Bomb II-Baptism by Fire
by Pen to Paper Writer
Summary: The U.S. and New York City are under attack. Rick and his team of bomb experts need to find out who is wreaking havoc in the city and stop them in any way they can. Rick, however, has more at stake this time around and he will do anything in his power to protect the ones that he loves. This story picks up three years after Bomb I ended. Rated T for now, warnings for "M" will show.
1. Chapter 1

She was pacing back and forth. And when the pacing became too much she stopped and simply stood there. It was right there on the vanity in front of her, mocking her! It's impossible for that to actually happen, but it was. Looking up to see her reflection in the mirror on the wall, she frowned. This situation was nothing that they had talked about. Well, that's not really a lie, they had talked about it but they never thought about taking the conversation further than it needed to go, to be anything more solid and have more meaning. She looked at her phone watching the timer countdown each second that ticked by bringing her closer to the answer the one that she feared. There was still a balance of a minute and forty-three seconds left before her life would change forever. She hopes that Rick will be happy, but she knows that if anything he'll be heartbroken when he hears the news. She can just imagine when he gets the news, he will be stunned at first, but then he will just fall apart when the news sinks in. She loves him, she knows him. None of this will be easy for either of them. She looks up once again from the countertop and takes a hard look into the mirror once more. She swears that she sees more grey hairs and her face has more worry lines showing on her forehead then she had only four minutes and thirty-two seconds ago.

The timer comes to its end and she doesn't have the power to open her eyes. Not that she wants to but she knows that she has to. She slowly opens her right eye to let in light and she looks down. It's there resting on the countertop of the vanity, mocking her still. She opens both eyes knowing that she needs to face her future good or bad. She raises the Clear Blue pregnancy test up to eye level and prepares for the result. She looks right at the sign it shows her in the small window. Two thin pink lines staring back at her. What she needs to do next is face the facts. On her next birthday, she will be 38 years old. Was she ready to have a baby? Was he? Is she good mother material? She knows without a doubt that he is a great father. He's definitely there for their child when she needs him. And she knows that he'll be there for this little one as well…. at least she hopes. Will there be complications since she's in her late thirties? What will she do if he has doubts about bringing another child into the world? When this baby graduates high school he will be close to turning fifty-seven years old. Is that too old?

She's startled by a knock from the other side of the bathroom door. Knowing that she needs to hide the test from prying eyes, she waits until the voice from the other side speaks to her, then that she will decide to hide it or not.

"Mom? Are you in there?" Alexis asks.

Alexis. She should have known. Ever since they were married, Kate has become a strength for her, someone who she can talk to, confide in. In reality, they've come to depend more and more on each other in the last three years.

"Honey, I'll be right out." Kate tells her through the door hoping she is hiding her apprehension.

"Mom is everything all right? What's going on in there?"

"Everything's fine Alexis, just give me a few seconds and I'll be right out." Well so much for sounding normal she thinks to herself.

"Okay, mom."

She knows that something's not right. Her mother never spends a half an hour in the bathroom no matter what she's doing. But she'll give her the privacy that she needs. About thirty seconds the door opens and her mom walks out looking a little tense. Alexis noticed this change immediately.

"Okay, out with it. What happened, mom? What's wrong?"

Kate takes her hand and walks her over to the two chairs that sit just outside of her bedroom. Once they sit down Kate looks at her and her face twists into what looks like fear. This is something that she'd never seen in her mother. She's so fearless and confident that she shouldn't let whatever this is be bothering her.

"Mom, did something happen at work? And come to think of it," she raises her arm to check the time on her watch "why are you home at two in the afternoon?"

Kate feels any sense of privacy retreat away from her soul. She really wants to tell her that she will be giving her a brother or sister, but it's complicated right now. Rick had just accepted a promotion from Lieutenant to Captain of the BDU five months ago. When Captain Hagen retired Rick was the logical choice to be promoted. He accepted and dove in head first making changes to make the unit work better with the detectives who were assigned temporarily to his unit for investigations. He had also revamped the unit as a whole, changed procedure and now they have a better response time to threats.

He actually got the idea from Kate. She had suggested that since his department was spread so thin he could use some help from detectives that were interested in helping him with the processing of a bomb scene. When it was introduced the idea was a hit and where ever he went in the city and he had a scene to process, detectives from that precinct were usually standing in line to sign up and assist.

Then there was the new apartment they had bought over a year ago. Deciding that they would need a larger home, Rick had moved from his apartment in Queens and Kate moved from her two-bedroom apartment to a loft in Manhattan. The loft was very spacious and they had made it their own with all the flairs that what made them, well them. She honestly never thought about her place anymore because that was not where she wanted to be. She wanted to be with him and Alexis.

Alexis was not necessarily a problem, but from the start, she had called her mom. She loved the fact that Alexis and herself had bonded so well. And one afternoon as Rick stood at the entryway to Alexis' room he noticed that she was giving Alexis some life advice, and decided right there that Kate needed to have more of a legal connection with his daughter than being just a stepmom. He had asked if she'd be willing to consider becoming her mother by adopting her. She told him that she would need to think about it seeing that this was a very big decision for all of them.

And now she added the fact that another child would soon be making an appearance to their list of problems. Well not really a problem, but more of a situation to deal with? Not a situation, but a life-changing decision. She looked at Alexis and told her,

"Sweetie, I do have something that I need to share with you. But one very important person is not here right now. I promise that I'll tell you when we're all together later tonight."

"Only if your sure mom, because you know that I can be a great sounding board if you ever need one." She pointed out.

"Sweetie, I do know that. And you are a big help when I have a very important decision to make. This, however, is kind of important and the subject is more personal."

"Mom, it's fine. Don't wor….

The front door to the loft unlocks and Rick steps in. He's instantly calling out for them.

"Where are my two favorite girls? Come on in here I have some news to share!"

Kate thinks to herself as she hears Rick call out to them,

 _"Well, there goes any hope for having the rest of the afternoon alone."_

"Mom come on! Dads home and then you can tell us what's wrong, right?"

Kate can only agree by nodding her head. She is reluctantly pulled off the chair by her daughter and follows her downstairs….

 **A/N: This story takes place three years after Bomb I. Many readers have asked for a sequel and after much thought here it is.**

 **A/N 2: Posting will be a little out of the norm for me, I am taking a cue from my fellow writers and friends Skygirl55 and Garrae. Chapters will be posted Thursday, Sunday, & Tuesday. Most of this story is already written and it will be about 18 chapters in length.**

 **To those in the U.S. "Happy Thanksgiving!" Enjoy the time with family and friends!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Nothing hurts more than being disappointed by the person you thought would never let you down**_ **.** -Kate Beckett-Rodgers

Rick is out of breath when he reaches the door to the loft. He has so much energy from the news he was told today that he just had to tell someone important. His first thought was of his wife and daughter, the two most important people in his life. He finally gets the door unlocked and walks in closing the door behind him. It's very quiet and he wonders if his daughter and wife are home, but it is early, and Kate should still be at work. He places the bouquet of flowers down on the counter and moves to the wine cooler to store the very expensive champagne he picked up earlier. He'd use this in a toast with them when he told them his news later. He takes a chance and calls out to them "Where are my two favorite girls? Come on in here I have some news to share!"

He looks up from storing the champagne to see his daughter tugging his wife down the stairs a little too quickly for his liking. By the time they hit the last step it looks like Kate is wary of moving forward but is pulled by his daughter anyway quieting any protest she might voice. Walking towards him Alexis to seems off-balance in a way he's never seen her before. Hurriedly, they sit down and look at him with expectant eyes. His daughter starts to fidget, a trait that he has not seen her use since she was a toddler. Somethings up and he can't figure out what exactly it is.

"So, I have some good news!" Rick announces and he heads back to the counter to get the flowers he had haphazardly dropped on the counter earlier.

"Dad! Spill already. I swear it's like pulling teeth or giving birth sometimes when you stall like this!" Alexis counters back.

When he looks over to them he can't help but notice that Kate has paled quickly at what was said previously by his daughter. He thinks to himself and he knows that something is bothering her, but she does not show it outright. It's the one thing he really can't get around. He could never read her that well. She could have committed a murder five minutes ago and she'd never give it away with how she acted. And it is the same now.

"DAD!" Alexis shouts out bringing him back from his thoughts.

"Okay pumpkin! Let me deliver these and then I'll tell you the news."

He walks over to his wife and extends his hand to offer her the bouquet. He can now tell that something is clearly bothering her, he sees it in her hazel eyes. He hesitates for a second but before he can ask her what is wrong her anxious daughter breaks his thoughts once more.

"Come on Dad, I have to study for an exam tomorrow and your cutting into my study time!"

Rick turns in response and stands in front of her.

"Far be it from me and my news to disrupt your study habits oh daughter of mine!"

Knowing that she'd been properly chastised in front of current company she quickly apologizes.

"It seems that my request for additional manpower and funds for the unit have been granted. The mayor had decided to strengthen the core of the BDU unit due to the ongoing threat due to the recent situations that happened overseas. He adjusted the annual city budget to free up the extra money. I have an additional two million dollars to formulate a suitable way to apply it to the unit to make it operate smoother and more streamlined."

"Dad, that's amazing! When do you need to have your list of distribution in place by?"

"By Friday the 18th. Then they will either agree with the plan or they want to make suggestions for revising it."

"That's great dad! But I know that you'll become a hermit living in your office trying to plan this properly." She unhappily added.

"Hey, there's no thinking like that. We are still going away this weekend! We've been planning this for forever and I'm not going to back out now! I made a promise to you and your mother and I plan on keeping it." Rick made sure she knew.

"Well, you did promise us, so I guess it's okay. Can I help you with the proposal?"

"Alexis, I know that you want to help… and you will. But not until I narrow this down a bit so I can make it more manageable to work on. Then I will ask you for your help."

"Great!"

Alexis looks over at her mom and sees anxiety written all over her face. Then remembers that she wanted to talk when they were all together. But by the look she's showing, maybe it's not the time to mention the events in the bathroom earlier.

"So, Kate what time did you get home today?" Rick asked.

"Oh about one thirty. I needed to take care of something."

"Is everything alright? You do look like there's a lot on your mind."

"Babe, everything's fine. I just have to work this out for myself, but I promise I'll tell you what's going on… just not right now."

Ever since they were married and even before that, he did notice that she had always taken a logical approach to any problem she faced. Be it a case, or something going on between them, so Rick knew that if she needs to work it out and he would give her the time she needed.

He got up and made his way back to the champagne that sat chilling in the fridge. Pulling it out, he selected three champagne flutes from the overhead rack above the center island. Then he popped the cork on the bottle and quickly poured the champagne into the three flutes that waited. Picking up two flutes he walked back to Alexis and Kate. He handed them each a glass which they took and returned to retrieve his own. Sitting across from them he raised his flute and started his toast.

"To making the city and its citizens feel safer!"

Both Kate and Alexis responded with "Here, here!"

They clinked the flutes together and each took a sip of the bubbly. When Rick had finished sipping his drink he noticed that Kate was still holding her flute in a raised stance and not moving.

"Kate?" Rick said.

With her father's concerned tone Alexis looked over to her mom and she thought she saw fear come across her features but hid it quickly.

"Rick, Alexis I'm pregnant."

The next sound that could be heard were two champagne flutes shattering on the hardwood floor below. Each of them just stared at her, Alexis happy about the news, Rick did not know what to feel at this moment. But the cat was out of the bag now and he had to do _something._ He was always protective of the two most important women in his life, and this time would be no different. It's just what he said to her next that had made him wish he never opened his mouth.

"Are you sure Kate? How can that be… we've always been so careful!"

The look of hurt that came over her face was something that he'll never forget for as long as he lives. But it was the lone tear that gilds slowly down her cheek seconds later that had him regretting those words he had said to her.

"Dad, you can be such as asshole! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Properly reamed out by his daughter, he stood and walked the step over to them and sat at his wife's right side hoping to comfort her because of his callous comment. The second he sat down she quickly raised her hand to stop him from talking to her, covered her mouth, and suddenly turned a light shade of green. Within seconds she was on her feet bolting for the bathroom. He was never able to say that he was sorry because she was gone. Alexis followed just as quickly and made it into the bathroom before the door slammed closed behind her….

Yeah, he was screwed, big time.

Rick cleaned up the broken glass flutes and walked to the kitchen garbage pail never once taking his eyes off the bathroom door in the hopes that it would open and they would come out, but that never happened. He'd sit on the couch and wait for them because he had to make this right with her. He was insensitive and he hoped that she could see how sorry he was when he said what he said. Why would he say that? He knew that accidents happened and she was on the pill, but maybe a baby would be a good thing, he had always wanted children with her. He watched the door with the expectation that it would open…

 **A/N: To the guest I can't reply to, yes they did get married at the end of Bomb!**


	3. Chapter 3

It had been over an hour that they were in the bathroom and he was feeling like shit. How could he have been so insensitive to her? Sure, they had talked about having a baby, but it never went as far as that, just a talk. She was still on the pill and he had always thought that they'd been careful and safe. But he did say what he said and now he needs to apologize to her for it. He kept watching the bathroom door and as he did he thought of all the things he could use to say he was sorry like roses, balloons, cupcakes, chocolate, and her favorite, shoes. As he sat there he realized that not a single one of these material things would really work. What he needs to do was tell her what was in his heart. This would be the only way to make her believe what an ass he really was.

Xx

Alexis gently caresses her mom's back hoping that it would bring her some relief. This is what had had her acting the way she was earlier she thinks. She wanted to soothe her and decided to make her dad the sacrificial lamb because let's be honest here, he did deserve it. They sat on the tiled floor with Kate close to the toilet, just in case then Alexis had an idea…

"Mom, dad can be a jerk sometimes, I swear he can, but the both of us should gang up on him, so we'll make a plan on how to do that later. But are you feeling any better now? Has the nausea settled down any?"

Kate was just about over the nausea and before she could tell her daughter that, she let lose a small giggle about what she said about Rick. But her thoughts went right back to the here and now. Her first thought was will this be an ongoing symptom? She just found out that she's having a baby and she is not too sure how far along she is yet. She really needs to see her doctor and as soon as possible.

"Sweetie, I'm feeling a bit better. But I can't say for sure if it will happen again though."

"Don't worry about that mom. We'll deal with it if it happens again. I'll be here for you, not like some of the male species that live here in this house." Alexis said.

Kate felt her heart warm at what was just said by her daughter. At least she had one person she could count on. This would be a long and hard road ahead. But she'd make it through with her daughter's help.

"Thanks, baby!"

They were both startled by the knock on the door and the timid pronouncing of her name by her husband.

"Kate…."

"You feel like talking to him? Alexis asked in a whisper.

"Not sure. But sweetie, while it might be fun to gang up on him, and god knows we should, this is something he wasn't expecting. I'll bet you anything, that he thought we were being safe. And as far as I know, we were. But what I can't believe is his reaction to this. I know that he is still trying to figure out how we got into this situation."

"Mom? Tell me that you're not thinking about, um, uh…." Her face went ashen in color when Kate looked at her daughter.

"Alexis just what are you asking me?"

Alexis noticed the way she was talking about them being safe and now she was pregnant she felt that the tone she used was more one of rejection or denial towards their baby so she had to be sure. She just came out with it.

"Mom, do you want to keep this baby?" She asked expecting the worst.

Kate's eyes went wide. At first, she was too stunned to say anything. How could Alexis think this? She scrambled to put together some words and get them out but came up blank. Two minutes had passed and the silence between them was deafening. But after finally getting her voice back she spoke.

"Alexis, listen to me, I want this child! There's no question in my mind, none at all. So, put that thought right out of your head! I'm keeping this baby."

"Okay, mom and I'm sorry for thinking that. Should I leave and let _him_ in?"

"Yeah, I think we let him suffer long enough for now, don't you?" Alexis nodded and got up off the bathroom floor and then helped Kate up. She moved to unlock the door but before she could her mom stopped her by placing her hand on her arm. Turning around her mom said, "I love you, sweetie."

"I love you too, mom."

With that said she unlocked the door and left almost running into her father who was bent halfway over with his ear against the door trying to listen in. Knowing that she caught him in the act she told him,

"Seriously dad?" She threw her arms up in disgust and stormed out past him with a repulsed look on her face.

Seeing his wife give him the stink eye and a dirty look, he rose to a standing position knowing it was that bad. At first, he just stood there hoping that she would be the one to say something, god he'd even be okay with her yelling at him at this point.

"Kate… I just want to say that I'm so very so….

Kate cut him off before he could finish the whole word.

She would always be amazed by this man. He had a way to make her feel loved by saying something that caught her off guard but she needed to know why he felt the way he did.

"Why are you sorry? I really want to know why you are sorry. Do you think that I'd be a terrible mom?"

"Kate, no I don't think that at all I'd…."

"Do you think I'm too old to have this baby?"

"Come on Kate, now you're being completely ridiculous! Where is all this coming from?"

"Where is this coming from? Rick, you asked me if I was sure about being pregnant how could I not be? Listen, it takes two people to make a baby. How more positive could I be?" Kate asked him.

"Babe, you dropped a lot on me with no time to react…."

"Rick…" Kate started to interrupt him but was shushed by him quickly.

"No Kate, please let me talk." He held her by the shoulders and told her sincerely "Now, I realize that it was the wrong reaction and for that, I'm so very, very, sorry. I never meant to make you feel that I never cared that you're carrying our baby. But I do care."

Rick reached over to her and took her hand in his and she returned his act of affection. As he pulled her closer, he started to kiss her cheek and moved closer to her lips. But right before he kissed her he asked her,

"Kate, can you give me a second chance and tell me again? Like a do-over?"

He was in no way off the hook yet but she would always be amazed by the size of this man's heart. He always gave her what she wanted and never asked for that much in return. She was just about to tell him again when his phone rang and he gave her a miserable look. Since he had been promoted to Captain he had been given more responsibility that closely resembled more time in the office and less time out in the field. He looks to his wife and then back to the phone and tells her,

"Babe, I really need to get this. Please hold that thought."

"Rodgers." Rick answered.

 _"Captain, it's Smitty. We have a situation down at 1 WTC. It might be nothing at all, but with what that building has been through so far, I'd rather not risk anything."_

"Lieutenant Williams, what exactly are you saying?" Rick asked.

 _"Rick, there was a low water pressure alarm that originated from the 63_ _rd_ _floor. It showed a drop in pressure in the standpipe system from 64 up to the top floor. The loss of pressure caused a water leak that is now draining down the elevator shaft from 63 down to 51. So, floors 64 thru 104 have no water supply leaving them unprotected in case of a fire and I don't the FDNY will like that so much."_

"Where are you, Smitty? And please tell me that you heading there now." Rick asked.

 _"Rick, this is me we're talking about here! I'm heading towards the 63_ _rd_ _floor to see what this. I'm just about to step into the elevator."_

"Smitty just keep me updated. If we need to roll on this at least we can be ready."

 _"I'll let you know what's going on boss."_

The call ended and a look of distress came across his face. What if this was some kind of possible threat? There were so many scenarios that ran through his head right now. But he could only come back to the thought that this could just be a new building and parts can fail, this could be nothing at all. Couldn't it?

"Rick, what's wrong?" Kate asked.

She had seen the look in his eyes and then his problem-solving look quickly took over. Whatever he was thinking about, she did not have his full attention on their current issue standing in the bathroom.

"Kate, it could be nothing. But for now, I will wait until Smitty calls back. Now, where were we?"

"Babe, listen I might have been a little harsh about your reaction before. But we do need to talk about this, what you said really hurt me."

"Kate, it's me who should be sorry. I was an ass and I will do whatever it takes to see you smile again. So, do you know how far along you are?"

Kate saw him in a new light now totally committed to their child and she knew that they'd be okay.

"Not yet. But I will need to make a doctor's appointment to find out. So, you're okay with this?" Kate asked as her hand swept downward along her baby bump protectively.

He had really made a mess of things, so much so that she needed to ask if he was okay with her bringing a new life into the world. A life that they created. He would now do everything to make her believe that he wanted this baby just as much as she did.

"I'm more than okay, babe….


	4. Chapter 4

Kate sat nervously in the waiting room of her obstetrician's office. She has been coming here since she was sixteen and trusted her doctor unconditionally. As she looked around the room she noticed the other women that were there and the handful of husbands waiting with them as well. Most of these women were in different stages of their pregnancies and she wondered once again if she was cut out to be a mom.

"Katherine Beckett"

She was startled into the present when she heard her name being called. Forgetting about her problems for the time being she got up to follow the nurse into the exam room area. Once there, she was told to disrobe and dress in the cloth gown wrapped up in the plastic bag next to her. She did and sat up on the exam table and waited.

The door opened and the nurse came in with her doctor following close behind.

"Kate, what a surprise! I haven't seen you in over a year. How have you been?"

"I've been good Suzanne. How are you doing?"

"Oh you know, kids, mortgage, bills, nothing much else, just life in general."

"I know just what you mean." Kate looks to Suzanne and hesitates a second before telling her of her concerns, but does so anyway. "Suzanne, I might be pregnant. I peed on a stick and it showed a positive result."

"Really? Kate, I thought you and Rick were going to wait for another year. I am correct to assume that you are still on your birth control pills?"

"Yes, but with all that's been going on this last week, I haven't taken them since last Sunday. Should I stop taking them?"

"Oh my god, yes Kate." She rushed out. "I don't want to alarm you but I have read studies where it could be possible to impede the baby's development in the early stages. I do not want to take the chance of harming an already fertilized and implanted fetus, that is if you are pregnant. So, please no more birth control pills from now on." Suzanne smiles.

"Okay." Kate agrees.

"Kate, I'll have Hanna draw some blood for the test and then I will be back. I need to read your file, but don't worry I'll be right back. Just get comfortable. But before I go, sometimes a home pregnancy test can show you a false/positive result. The blood test will give us a true answer." Suzanne turns and leaves the exam room and Hanna comes over to draw the blood for the test. She thinks to herself that this will be the moment that tells her if this is real or not, but this is just a formality at this point. Hanna finishes quickly and places a gauze pad over the draw site.

Xx

Rick answers the call as soon as Smitty places it.

"Smitty, what did you find out?" He asked him hopefully.

"Rick, this looks like a malfunction with the standpipe system. It was a gate valve that failed and the water supplying the system was leaking past the valve, it has since been shut down. The Port Authority maintenance staff and engineers are removing the defective valve as we speak. They should be finished within the hour."

"Good news. Do I need to respond?" Rick asked.

"No. for now let's just keep this between us. If something develops after these guys rip apart the valve and find something other than a dried-out seal or the stem is compromised, then we'll worry about it."

"Come back to headquarters and I'll meet you there in an hour."

"You got it Rick. See you then."

Kate was alone at her doctor's appointment. He still had the time to go and be with her before he had to meet with Smitty. So, he gets his gear packed up and heads over to her doctor's office to try and make the appointment with her. On the ride over to her doctor he thinks back about his reaction to the news that she had given him then. Now he can see that he acted like he did not even know her at all. He can't blame her for his reaction earlier and accepts the way he will be treated by not only his wife but his daughter as well.

They had talked about having a baby but that's all he thought it was. Just talking about what it would be like to bring a new life into the world would be a new experience for both of them. Then he also remembers the pain and suffering that would result by bringing that life into this world and becoming a target because of his job. And if he was honest with himself this is the only fear that he had never talked about with Kate when they did talk about having a baby. Sure, she knew about his past and how he lost Sarah, which he'd never wish that moment in his life on anybody.

He hopes that she forgives him. When she left earlier for her appointment she was not that very civil to him and he did deserve it.

Xx

Smitty knows it's around here somewhere. If he could only remember where he put it when he finished reading it. The report that he is trying to locate was written about five years ago. It was a report from a theorist from Cal Tech that had showed that today's bomb disposal units had often neglected the everyday items when searching for explosive devices. The article itself was eye-opening.

He hears his phone ring and unclips it from the holder at his waist. Checking the caller ID, he sees that it's Rick. All thoughts about finding the article that he's looking for are erased from his mind as he answers his phone.

"Smitty where are you now?" Rick asked.

"Rick I'm on my way. Just had to stop by the house to pick up a couple of things before I met you."

"In fact that's why I'm calling. I'm just about at Kate's doctor's office. Since it's almost two thirty I'm going to meet her over there and try to fix my blunder. So, meet me at headquarters by four."

"Rick is everything okay between you two? What blunder?" Smitty asked concerned for his friends.

"If I'm still breathing in a half hour, then yeah everything between us is good. If you don't hear from me in an hour then it's been really nice knowing you, Paul." Rick kids back.

"Good luck boss!"

"Thanks, I'll need it."

After he parks his truck and locks it up, he enters the lobby and searches the buildings directory for her doctor's office. Finding what he needs he's heading to the elevators quickly. He steps into the car and depresses the button for the 8th floor the doctor's office is on. On the way up, the elevator moves silently and in under a minute he's stepping off searching for suite 804. Seeing it directly ahead of him he walks at a quick pace to see if she is still there. Opening the door, he walks in looking a bit nervous about how she will treat him when she lays eyes on him. He breathes a sigh of relief when he scans the room and doesn't see her in the main office. So, he walks up to the receptionist and asks if she is still here.

"Hello, can I help you?" The receptionist asked him.

"I'm here to see my wife. Can you tell me if she's still here?"

"And your name is?"

"Rick, Rick Rodgers. My wife's name is Kate."

"Mr. Rodgers she is in with the doctor right now. It's okay if you want to go in. Just walk through that door and it will be the first exam room on the left."

"Thank you." He replies and then adds "I think I will."

Rick turns and walks through the door and turns to the left. He can see that the door is slightly open and stops just before entering the room. He hears Kate ask for confirmation of the blood test that was just done. The doctor tells her…

"Kate, it's true! The test doesn't lie. You're going to have a baby."

"Suzanne, are you sure? I mean can you see me having a baby now at my age?"

Trying for cheerfulness the doctor says,

"Kate the time to think about this was when you conceived this baby, not now."

Kate's face just falls. Maybe joking was the wrong approach she thought.

"Suzanne, what am I going to do? I can't have this baby! Rick did not want this to start with, what am I going to tell him?"

Just then he swings the door open without her seeing him come in and steps closer to her. Coming up right behind her Suzanne looks up from Kate's file and smiles at his presence.

"What you're going to tell me is that we are going to raise this baby with all the love we have to give him or her. Then you are going to say to me that I was a jackass with what I said to what you told me earlier today and that you forgive me for acting this way." Rick finished.

Suzanne just looked at the neutral look on Kate's face.

Slowly Kate turned around to face him her look turning questioning. She hoped that he'd accept this and it looks like he has.

"Rick, what makes you think that I believe you now? You were pretty sure that I could not be pregnant. Now, you believe me?"

"Kate, I do. I am so sorry to had doubted you before. I'm am also sorry I acted like a jerk, and I'll make it up to you by being more thoughtful from now on. But I'm with you now in every way possible please believe me. I want this more than you can imagine."

She just stares into his eyes looking for any doubt in his baby blues. When she finds none, she relents in her attack and leans into him wrapping her arms around his waist. She's quick to realize that there is no tension in his body while she is holding him. He is truthful and for that she is extremely happy.

"Well, it looks like you two are going to be having a baby in about seven months." Suzanne tells the pair. "Congratulations!"

Not hearing any of what her doctor just said she continues her assault on Rick's lips drawing him in closer to her. She feels safe in his arms.

Suzanne leaves the couple alone and as she does she tells Kate that she needs to make an appointment in a month's time for a check-up. She leaves when she sees her head nod. After a short amount of time they separate from each other.

"Rick, you're sure you're okay with this?"

"Kate, I'm sure. I love you and our baby! I admit I was a fool for how I treated you earlier, but it has all come full circle now. I'm going to be a daddy again!"

Kate could not hide her thrill with what he just said. She knew that they would be fine now.

"Kate, you are done here, right? We can leave?"

"Yeah, I just need to make another appointment why?

"I just want to take my wife to an early dinner or a late lunch being that it's almost 3 pm."

"That sounds perfect. Let's go."

Kate stops at the receptionist's desk before they leave to make her next appointment. This time she requests a Saturday slot so that Rick can come with her and be there for the whole appointment. Appointment now set, she walks to where he is waiting by the office exit.

"Ready?" He asked.

"I am. Next time you get to come with me."

"I'm honored?" He questions.

"Yes, babe. And you should be!" She says with a sneaky smile. "This is the best part of having a child. Think of all the milestones we will get to see."

Rick can only nod his head in agreement as he takes her arm and guides her out of the office and to the elevator. He's still only half listening to her as they reach the doors and he presses the call button.

"…..just think about how Alexis will feel about it."

The doors open and his head feels like one of those dachshunds whose heads bobble up and down sitting in the rear window of some older cars he remembers from when he was younger.

As they step onto the elevator the car is empty except for them but the car shifts down a little. Kate never notices this, but red flags go up warning him that something is not right. Still listening to her talk, he presses the button for the lobby. The second he does, the doors close and the car starts to move, it does, but at a slower pace than when he had come up in it earlier. He relaxes a little seeing that the elevator resumes a more normal operation until the lights above them flicker and go dark…


	5. Chapter 5

Even in the dark, he can feel when the elevator as it comes to a slow stop. It's pitch black and he can sense the anxiety in Kate's voice rise as she asks her question. He won't start getting all paranoid about this. Things happen all the time. He will calm her down.

"Rick, what's going on?"? Are we going to be okay?"

"Kate let me get the flashlight app on my cell phone on and then I'll be able to call down and see what's going on here, okay?"

"I'm sorry, I'm just a little scared."

Rick reaches out in the dark and finds her hand and takes it into his calming her with his touch.

"Kate this is going to be fine. I'm sure that the security people know what's going on by now."

Rick fumbles in the dark until he turns on the flashlight app on his phone and the car is quickly illuminated by the bright light. Just as he picks up the elevator phone, the emergency lighting kicks on and he can see the horror and the anguish written all over her face. The call connects.

"This is Richard Rodgers. We're stuck in elevator number four and we need to know if you have any plans of getting someone here to get us out?"

" _Mr. Rodgers, there seems to be an issue with three more elevators on the south bank opposite you. We were lucky enough to have two on the ground floor when this started and they were shut down already. The crew we have presently out to free the people in the south bank will be there shortly to get you out. Please try not to worry."_

The phone goes dead before he can form any type of reply. Since he has the backup power lights working he kills the flashlight app on his phone, pulls up his recent calls and hits Smitty's number. He has barely two bars but a full battery charge which he's grateful for, then the call goes through.

"Rick, traffic is preventing me from getting to headquarters in time for our meeting. Can you wait a little bit for me to get there?"

"Smitty I need you to switch gears and head over to Kate's doctor's office at 455 Madison Avenue. I'm stuck in an elevator and I think there's more to it than just a power failure."

"Rick? What are you talking about? You usually don't jump the gun without the facts first."

"Something feels off Smitty, just get here as quick as you can."

"I'm on my way I'll be there in less than 15 minutes."

The call ends and Smitty just stares at the cell phone in his hand. He knows Rick and he knows that he would never jump to conclusions without having the facts presented in front of him like he does with an investigation. He knows something's up but he just can't put his finger on it. He instead stepped harder on the gas pedal to get around the congested New York City traffic.

Xx

Being trapped in an elevator is never fun. Especially with a very pregnant and petrified wife. He knows he screwed up earlier when he neglected to consider her feelings about having a baby and but he has to make things right so he decides to tell her what's going on in his head seeing that there's nowhere she can go right now.

"Kate, I'm uncertain for lack of a better word. I want this baby, I really do, nothing can make me prouder but bad memories just keep coming back that has me rethinking my job. I lost Sarah to the hands of a madman. I never want to be in a position where I have to choose who I would have to save first ever again. What I'm saying is that I don't want you to be a choice that I have to make, ever. And the same goes for the baby that you're carrying now. I do want a baby I really do but I fear that one day something will take you, him or her away from me."

"Rick, babe, I know that you worry way too much. But Colin was from a different lifetime. That's over now and it's been dealt with and while I know that there are hazards with your job, since we've been married you have taken fewer risks to prove to me that you're considering your life expectancy to last longer than the next case. What would you do? Would you leave the job you love the most? Quit because of something that happened three years ago that might or might not happen again? You can't live your life in the fear that it could happen again. We can only play the cards that we're dealt, so rethink what you want to do."

"So, we're going to be alright? I mean you don't think that we'll be a target in the future?"

"Babe, there are no guarantees in life. We are both cops and there is always the unknown. Sure, we could be a target, but do you really think that we should live our lives in fear of what could be? If this were the case we would have never gotten married to me in the first place. You would be just as lost as you were before we met. So, no I don't think that we should be denied our happiness."

She was right. And he did have a choice. A choice that would bring him more happiness than he can ever describe. He's pulled out of his thinking when his cell phone rings in his pocket. He looks at the caller ID quickly and answers without hesitation.

"Tell me that you're here." Rick barks into the phone.

"I am. I'm down in the lobby near the doors of the elevator you're in. The maintenance crew is going to override the safety and get you down. Don't be afraid Kate. There will be a sudden lurch with the elevator and it will move slowly until it stops on the first floor." Smitty knew that Rick would put the phone on speaker and told her this to calm her down.

It takes about a good 10 minutes for the elevator to lurch and once it does they are slowly descending down to the lobby. They were on the 5th floor when it stopped so the ride is short. He can hear Smitty on the other side as he tries to pry open the elevator doors to the lobby. He inserts the tool that the fire department has for opening doors of elevators and daylight shines through the car as they see him.

"Rick, let's get you looked over. There are medics outside in case you need one." Smitty tells him.

"Paul we're both fine. Let's just get out of here and try to figure out why it is that this elevator and the other ones on the south side had stopped conveniently between floors."

"Rick, what do you think is going on?" Kate knew that look on his face. He was determined to find out why this had happened and he would not stop until he had the answers.

"I'm not sure Kate. But I will find out. Smitty let's get over to the maintenance area for this building. I want to go over everything from when those elevators were installed right up until today. There has to be something there and if we can't find it there and want to inspect each shaft individually to see what we can find."

"Rick, why don't you worry about taking Kate home and getting her comfortable. I know that you are Captain America, but this couldn't have been easy for her as well. I'll be here when you get back and then together will do what you want to do." He did this because if he knew the information that he had and told him what he had found out prior to him arriving at the office building, Rick would never leave. So, he decided to keep the important information from him until he returned. Once Rick was given something new about a situation he never let it go. And he's got too much to worry about with Kate right now.

"Don't start anything inspection related Smitty. Make a pass on their service records first and then when I get back you can catch me up. After that, we will investigate each shaft individually to find out why this happened."

"Go, Rick, take care of your wife." Smitty tells him.

They both walk out of the office building and Smitty can swear that Rick makes some comment about him not doing anything until he gets back, but the wind carries his voice away from him, and he never could really hear what he entirely said with certainty…right?

Rick had a feeling that something was not right. He's only had this feeling once before and it ended up being one of the worst days of his life. He hopes this feeling is nothing like then. He really doesn't think that he'll be able to survive anything that involves his daughter or wife. He just won't take that chance or survive it.


	6. Chapter 6

The ride home is silent. Neither dares speak because if either does anything they say will end in a heated discussion bordering on a disagreement. He knows her and she knows him. She knows that his mind is always spinning wild theories that have her and their daughter in danger because they are the first priority in his life, he'd die protecting them, she knows that he would. But this is not about her and he can't be thinking this every time he gets one of these feelings, but if she voices her thoughts about it, he will defend his ideas until the end. He knows that she thinks that he is always thinking the worst case scenario. Is it so wrong to protect the ones you love? She knows that he'd never let anything happen to them and he'd die to protect them.

They get back to the loft and as they make their way to their place upon entering they hear their daughter on the phone having a heated argument with someone. They have no idea with whom.

Rick whispers trying to keep his voice down.

 _"Pumpkin? What's going on?"_

All she does is toss him a disgusted look and continues on with her call.

Rick can only stand there watching her face as it becomes more and more animated and turning a very light shade of red. He waits because she's making faces at the caller who's got her so mad and he knows that this is how she gets either before she politely ends the call or when she just hangs up while the caller is still talking to her. It's amazing how much ire she can work up in such a short time. Rick knows that this won't end well for the caller and he sees it written all over her face. Then the end comes quickly.

"Yeah well, screw you too!" She shouts through the receiver and ends the call.

Her cell phone flies through the air like it had a pair of wings and ends up between the cushions of the couch, deep and out of sight. Rick and Kate both watch as the couch swallows up the phone.

"Alexis, who _was_ that?" Kate asked.

"That mom was the vice president of the company that is providing the funding for a project he wanted me to work on."

"Okay, and why does that make you hang up on the guy while he is still talking?"

"Because. He's an idiot!"

Kate can tell that she won't get very far trying to figure out what she means when she's this agitated. So, she'll try later but now she tries to calm her down with some happier news.

"Alexis, look at me." She asks.

She does and Kate comes out with her news.

"I'm pregnant sweetie."

At first, she can only look at her like this is nothing new and they found out about this earlier. But when she looks to her mom's left she sees that her dad was wearing a smile so bright that it could power up a small town.

"So, dad believes you now? He accepts that you are going to give me a brother or sister?"

"He does baby. He is okay with it now, but it was a bit bumpy when he first got there, but we figured it out together. Try not to go so hard on him he has to learn how to do this all over again." Kate let out a little laugh and soon, so did Alexis.

"I'm so happy for the both of you mom!" She moves over to pull them both in for a tight hug. Releasing them she looks at the both of them and can't imagine either of them having a baby. But they will be great parents. She knows this firsthand and really, she can't wait.

"Well as much as I'd love to stay here and celebrate, I need to catch up with Smitty back on Madison Ave. Will the two of you be okay until I get back?"

"Dad, we'll be fine. And dad… I'm sorry about before. I should have known that you wanted to be a part of this, the baby I mean."

"Honey, it's fine, I'm sure that I came off looking like an asshole."

"No, you really did!" Alexis giggled a little. And Kate looked sternly in her direction.

"But dad, I am truly sorry."

"Apology accepted." Rick leaned in to give her a kiss to her forehead. When he was done, he walked to his wife and kissed her on the lips. Lightly.

By the time he returned to the Madison Avenue office building, the maintenance crews that were repairing the elevators had long since gone. Rick went to the office where he knew he hoped he would find Smitty. He knew this is where he'd be because he told him to look at the inspection reports before they attempted to inspect the elevators themselves. And of course, this is not where he was. He heard him before he could see him. As he walked toward the elevator shaft he heard the voice of his friend from far away.

"So, there is no way anyone could have had access to this shaft?" Smitty asked the maintenance foreman.

"Well, I guess that anyone could have had access to the area. But, that is hard because there is a security patrol making their rounds every fifteen minutes or so. So, the area is pretty secure."

"Okay, I'll let my boss know."

Rick heard the rig that Smitty was wearing when he descended from where he was inside the shaft down to the access door. It made a noise that had him remembering a case from long ago. But before he could think about that case, Smitty came out of the shaft, shedding the safety harness he was wearing. The second he turned around and noticed that his boss who was standing in the access area to the shaft he had just exited, and he cowered.

"So, still taking risks, are we?"

"Rick? I can explain."

"Smitty, save it. I'll deal with you later. Just tell me what you have found."

"There's nothing that would indicate why every elevator would fail at the same time. So, if this was a prank or if it was a way for a group to test the system, there's no way we can tell by what was left in the shaft."

"What was left in the shaft?"

"Nothing that I can see as a threat. I have just been over the three in the south bank of the building and this one, the one you were stuck in with Kate." Smitty said as he pointed to the elevator.

Rick fades a little thinking about why all the elevators would fail together and he comes up empty.

"Rick, what do you want me to do?"

"Let's just close this up and head back to BDU. Then we'll do what you are going to hate the most, and your punishment for not listening to me."

"Oh, and what would that be?" Smitty asks.

"Research!"

His face drops. His boss knows that he hates looking at older cases to find something that will move them in a different direction. But, it needs to be done, and he did disobey an order given to him by his boss, so he nods in agreement.

"Okay, Rick. Just let me stow this harness and we can get going."

Xx

"Mom, do you think that dad is onboard with the fact that you are going to be giving him another boy or a girl?" Alexis asked her mother.

"Lex, I think that he feared this at first." Kate replied resting her hand on her coming baby bump.

"Feared it? Why?"

"Lex, look at from his point of view. He worries about everything that involves us. So, it just goes to show you that he'd be a little worried about a baby. He'll always be protective of those he loves."

"No, I get that mom, I really do but he needs to lighten up a little. He is always jumping to a conclusion that winds up being something that we can explain."

"Lex, what happens when one of his fears become a reality? Don't you think that he is always thinking this? And one day I'm sure that the law of averages will be in his favor just like today." Kate let the last part slip out. She can only hope that Alexis missed it.

"We'll never live that day down. Wait a sec, like today? Mom, what happened?"

"Honey, it's nothing. we are all safe. Nobody was hurt."

"Tell me what happened!" Alexis the elevator got stuck between floors, that's all. We were fine. Smitty and the building maintenance supervisor got us down safely."

Nothing else happened?"

"I promise, cross my heart. So, for now, let's just listen to what he has to say when he get's back from talking to Smitty."

"Okay, mom. So, do you want a boy or a girl?"

"Huh? What…"

"Are you hoping for a girl or a boy?"

She never thought about the baby's gender. She only hoped that he or she had ten fingers and toes and was healthy. But now that her daughter brought it up she thought about it now. She'd love to have a little boy one that looks like Rick.

"A boy. Think of all the clothes we could buy him!"

"Not only clothes, think about all the toys we could buy a boy. There are so many to choose from!"

"Well, I just want him or her to be a healthy baby."

Alexis' stomach started to grumble and she realized that they had not eaten since this morning.

"Mom, are you hungry?"

"You know come to think of it I haven't had anything since this morning. What would you like?"

"We need to make something nutritional for you, you areeating for _two_ now. Oh, and did you get any prenatal vitamins from the doctor?"

"I am going back for another appointment next month. I'm sure that she will give me everything then."

"Okay. I read an article in a woman's magazine and there are some foods that are off limits."

"What are they?"

"Eggs, Sushi, certain types of fish due to the mercury levels, processed meats like hot dogs and lunch meat, and mom I hate to be the one to tell you this, but the amount of coffee you drink needs to be cut down drastically."

Kate can only release a heavy sigh. "I know."

"But there is a bright side…."

"Oh yeah, and what's that?"

"You can have real coffee, but only about 8 ounces every other day. But between the real coffee, you can have all the decafe you can make! We'll make up a good diet for you to follow. I'll even join you!"

Thanks, baby."


	7. Chapter 7

**Six months later…**

Knowing when something doesn't add up is a hard fact for him to admit to. He re-read what Paul had given him about the four (well six if you counted the two that were held at the lobby) elevators that were stalled in mid-motion. The Otis elevator service techs who had searched everything that Rick and Smitty had searched, and came up empty as well. He read on and found out that there was a relay that had overloaded and shorted out the three south side elevators and the one he was in with Kate in the north bank. The two that were held in the lobby were also affected.

Trying to place blame on something as simple as an overloaded relay was something he needed to get a handle on. Not every circumstance was something for him to solve. He closed the file and returned it back to the cabinet.

"Are you happy now?" Smitty asked as he watched him put the file away.

"I am. I only thought the worst and this would be just another way for my past to come back to haunt me."

"Rick, not every case involves you and what happened in your past. What happened here was a random event. From the minute you stepped into that elevator, to the relay overheating, to you getting stuck with Kate, to you jumping to conclusions."

Rick gave Smitty a shove and a look. But he was right. He was only seeing things that were really not there. Things are getting back to normal.

Xx

The news from abroad is terrifying, to say the least. Extremists have decided to step up their attacks on the civilian population. They started with simple attacks causing more property damage than deaths at first. Being that they were not well funded, they used what they could to get their point across. But now with the backing of some big organizations in the Middle East, they have an unlimited amount of money to purchase what they need to make their statement even bolder. The attacks are meant to cause maximum destruction. But in most cases, it seems that it's the people who are nearby that end up paying the price by being collateral damage. And many cities have been hit more than once. It started in Paris and in one week they were hit with two separate incidents that claimed the lives of more than 119 people.

Next to be hit was London and the underground. The terrorists had waited until rush hour started on a rainy Thursday. Then without warning in the Waterloo, King's Cross and Oxford Circus stations, London's busiest subway stations were all attacked at the same time. The loss of life was in the thousands.

The reign of terror did not end there. It moves South to Dover England. The terrorists have decided that taking a ferry out in route to Calais France was a way to inflict more death and destruction. Halfway through the cruise filled with locals, vacationers, and tourists the DFDS ship is destroyed halfway across the channel. The loss of life is overwhelming, 672 at last count.

Xx

Rick is watching the latest BBC world news broadcast in his office. They show the carnage that has taken place after the recent ferry bombing. Yes, a bombing. They have determined that bombs were used in these attacks in every instance. What he thinks is that whoever is carrying out these attacks will soon set their sights on the US. And he knows that no matter what, even with the most populated areas of the city now being heavily patrolled due to the possibility of a threat, these extremists will still find a way to get to these areas.

He decides to be pre-emptive. He drafts an email to every member in his unit. The email will be a request that will not be disregarded and attendance is mandatory. Everyone in the unit will be sent a copy. Smitty, Baez, Dave, Juan, and the two newest members of the BDU unit. They're young, but he has taken one of them under his wing. Martin Anderson and Jonathan Phillips are two new promising bomb techs that he was able to hire with the surplus of money he got from the City Council when he requested additional funds to strengthen the unit six months ago.

He requests that they all be in the unit conference room by Friday at 8 a.m. The email is short and sweet and there's no topic listed in the body of the email.

Rick sends the emails and shut down his computer. He checks his watch one last time to make sure he's on time to get home to his wife and daughter.

Xx

Kate has been to the doctor regularly since she found out that she was pregnant. When her second visit began some time ago, both Alexis and Rick came with her to the appointment. Rick was there because he wanted to support her, and Alexis, well she had read like a woman on fire. Anything and everything about the first trimester that involved a baby and the mother who carried it. She wanted to make sure that the doctor took care of her little brother or sister.

She has her first bi-weekly appointment this afternoon and while Alexis wanted to come to it, but she couldn't because she needed to be at Columbia for her final test before summer break. They had agreed to meet at a favorite bistro of theirs after her test and Kate's appointment. She packs up her personal things from her desk and shuts down her computer. It's then when Ryan looks over at her and gives her an unexpected look.

"Kate? What gives?"

"What are you talking about Kev?"

"We're in the middle of this case, and you're just leaving?" He told her as he gestured to her packing up for the day.

She gets the implication.

"Doctors appointment this afternoon."

"Ohhh sorry."

"Ryan you should know about this by now. You went through it about eight months ago."

"Yeah, I did at that. And I'm so glad that I did. Is Rick meeting you there? Or is he coming here to pick you up?"

"He should be here any minute. He left BDU about a half hour ago."

"So?"

"So what? Kate asked.

"Are you going to find out whether your baby will be a boy or a girl? This is the first time in your pregnancy that you'll be able to do that."

"I'm not sure. Rick said he wanted to be surprised, but I want to know."

"That's okay I guess, me and Jenny, well we wanted to know. It gave us a head start."

"There's a part of me that wants to know and then there's a part that doesn't."

"Whatever it is Kate, I just hope that he or she is healthy."

"So do I!"

Kevin and Kate turned to see Rick walking up behind her dressed in his dress white shirt and tactical pants. She really loved him dressed this way.

"Hey Rick, how are you?" Kevin asked with an extended hand.

"I'm good Kevin. How are you, Jenny and your newest Ryan?"

"Midnight feedings suck! But other than that, we're all doing great."

"Yeah, midnight feedings I don't miss those! Are you ready babe?"

"Just about, I just need to let the Captain know that I'm leaving for the day."

Rick could only stand there hoping to have a conversation with Ryan while Kate was gone.

"So, Kevin, how old is your daughter now?"

"Her name is Sarah Grace, and she just turned five months two days ago."

"I can tell that she makes you happy."

"She does. She's my world!"

"Ready babe?" Kate asked as she came up alongside him.

"I am. I'll see you, Kevin."

"Ditto Rick. Have a good day."

Kate and Rick join hands and head for the elevator. They will be right on time for the appointment and with luck, they will be able to get to the bistro by four fifteen just in time to meet Alexis.

Xx

"Kate, how are you feeling? Any discomfort at all?" Suzanne asked her patient.

"I'm feeling a little big! Is this normal for the sixth month?" Kate asked thinking that she was as big as a house.

"Listen, Kate, every woman is different when they are carrying their child. Let me take some measurements and we'll talk about that later. Right now, I am going to put this gel on your belly so I can find your baby."

Kate took her husband's hand and held on to it waiting for the cold gel to touch her very warm belly. She was so pleased when she felt a warm sensation there instead.

"Suzanne, it's warm!"

"Yes, this is a brand new machine. It has a warmer for the gel, I don't feel so bad using it now. And you are the very first patient I'm trying it out on!"

"I feel honored?" Kate questions.

"Yes, you should!" She said with a smile. "Now if I can get this image to come in a little clearer…. there that's better!"

Both Rick and Kate stare at the image on the monitor. Their baby has grown so much since the last time they did this last. But something looks different with what they're used to seeing.

"Suzanne, why does the image look so different?"

"This machine is so new that it has the ability for us to see the baby in 3-D."

"That is so cool!" Rick says.

"Now, do you guys want to know if it's a boy or a girl?"

Kate looks to Rick and she can tell that he's still undecided.

"Rick? Do you want to know?"

He thinks about what this could give them. They would know what clothes to buy, what color to paint the nursery, and Alexis would be in heaven if they know.

"I do. Do you?"

All he can see is the start of a smile on her face. Suzanne knows instantly that they are both in agreement.

"Kate, just let me scan around for a second or two and if your baby is not shy we should know really quick.

Kate watches as Suzanne moves the transducer around her stomach and presses down with a little more pressure. She stops and twists the wand holding it in place and then tells her,

"Kate, Rick say hello to your son!"

"A boy! Oh boy, we're having a boy!" Rick says proudly.

Kate can only hold her husband's hand a little tighter to show him how happy she is.


	8. Chapter 8

The ringing phone wakes him and he is instantly on alert. He reads the clock as he answers the phone and sees that it's just about 3:20 in the morning.

"Hello," Rick mumbles into the phone.

"Rick, I have some news. But not over the phone. Come down to headquarters."

"Paul? What's going on, you do know that it's almost 3:30 in the morning, right?"

"Rick we've been hit and hit hard. You need to get down here now. I'll have the preliminary report ready by the time you get here."

"I'll be there in a half an hour."

The call ends on both sides. Rick gets up easily so he doesn't wake Kate up. Splashing cold water on his face at the sink he looks up to the mirror and watches the water drip from his face. Drying off and leaving the bathroom he dresses in tactical gear not knowing what to expect. He opens the safe that they both share and he takes out his Sig P320 X-VTAC, pulls the slide back to make sure that it's loaded and holsters it. He also takes two loaded mags and stores them as well. He is down in the garage and can't help to think what Paul had meant when he told him that they were hit hard. Was the city involved? Or was it something else. He started the BDU pick up and leaves the loft's garage still trying to figure it out.

Xx

LA was the first to be hit. Then Portland and then finally before it ended, for now at least, Seattle. The attacks were timed to be less than minutes apart. They were well organized, catching officials off guard. At exactly eight pm Pacific Standard Time, the onslaught started. The first bombing took place at the U.S.S. Iowa museum. Details were still incomplete but the terrorists had placed a large number of explosives along both sides of the hull of the ship. At 8:00 pm the charges went off causing pandemonium at the stern of the ship where most of the guests were. The guests that were there were celebrating a milestone of sorts. In 1944 the crew from that time and their families that had been invited to celebrate the anniversary of when the Iowa had become a part of the Pacific Fleet Task Force 58 and for the first time fired her massive 16" main battery of guns in combat and sunk a Japanese light cruiser named Katori. The party had been in full swing when the first explosion happened. What no one expected was that when they were trying to get out of harm's way and leave the battleship, the terrorists knew that there was only one way off the ship and that was across the gangplank. They had planted more bombs set to go off as the guest's tried to leave. The body count stands at 206 dead, 122 injured, 14 critical.

In Portland Oregon, a second-grade class was performing a recital. The church they were performing in was built in 1883. It was one of the oldest freestanding structures in Portland. When everyone was seated and the children had started the first act, the first of 10 devices detonates taking the stage and children. By the time any of the staff or parents can react, the church is taken down wall by wall trapping most everyone inside. Inside of 3 minutes the church and its occupants lie in the remaining pile of rubble. Body count 91 dead, 74 injured, 22 critical.

In Seattle, the Space Needle lies in a pile of twisted steel, concrete, and glass. The first explosion rocked the base of the circular platform where the powerful motor rotates the dining area and the store to let everyone see the views it can afford. In turn, it sits upon the steel supports directly under it. The bombs that went off at the base brought the Needle down in on itself. Body count 57 dead 14, injured, 6 critical.

Xx

Still sitting at the conference table Smitty reads the report for the third time before he hears the code being entered into the keypad for the door that leads to the BDU conference room. The door opens and he noted the time. Without looking up, he asked the newest member of the room,

"What took you so long?"

"Smitty, please tell me that you have not been here all night?" Rick asked as he noticed many empty coffee cups on the table.

Paul ignores his question and instead starts with...

"Rick, we have a big problem. Something that your Spidey senses might think is more than an orchestrated mess."

"What happened?"

"There were three instances. The first in LA, the second in Portland, Oregon, and the third in Seattle. Terrorists planted bombs in those cities and took a lot of lives. So far, 354 dead, 210 injured, with 42 critical."

"Who is responsible?"

"That's unknown at this time, but I'm sure that they will make themselves known. Rick, I really think that what they plan on doing will be to start moving East. If I had to guess Chicago, Houston, and St. Louis will be next in line if they attack in three's." Smitty said sadly.

"When did this start?"

"8 pm Pacific, 11 pm our time."

"Paul, start making calls. Get everyone up and in here now. We need to see what the Counterterrorism unit knows about this if anything."

"Right boss."

Having no other course of action at the moment Rick heads to his office to find out anything that might give him any indication that New York will be targeted next. Spending more than an hour he watches the news coverage and sees firsthand the destruction of the cities that were hit. LA had the most loss of life, but he thinks that any life lost to these monsters should be avenged. He will be vigilant in the defense of his city. He hears a knock on his office door.

"Boss, everyone is here. Should we set up in the conference room?" Smitty asks.

"Yes, and make sure that we have plenty of coffee, I have a feeling that today will be a very long day."

"No problem Rick." Smitty turns and heads to the kitchen to brew a fresh pot.

Xx

They have been at it for the last three hours when his phone rings breaking up a disagreement between himself and Baez.

"Herman, we are spread too thin as ….." Rick says as he stops to answer his phone.

"Hello?"

"Rick? Where are you, babe?"

"Kate, hey honey, I am in the middle of a situation. Can I call you back a little later?"

"Oh. Okay. Sure, but did you hear about what happened on the West coast?"

"I did, and we're in the middle of trying to figure out where or if they might strike in the city."

"I woke up to your side of the bed empty and cold. What time did you get called out?"

"Just after 3:30 this morning. I'm sorry baby."

"It's okay, at least I know that you're keeping the city safe."

"I promise to call you around lunch. If I can get away maybe we can meet at Remy's for a quick bite?"

"I'd like that. Don't forget to call okay?"

"I won't. I love you, Kate."

"I love you too, Rick"

Rick ends the call and goes back to arguing with Herman.

"Boss, we can pull the new guys from the team and set them up at 1PP."

"Come on Herman, there still green. They wouldn't know a bomb if it jumped up and bit them."

"Rick, we need someone to do this. What do you suggest?"

Just as he was about to give Herman his idea, his phone rang again.

 _God damn can't I get a get a rest from this phone!"_

"Hello, This is Captain Rodgers." Rick answered because the caller ID came up unavailable.

"Captain Rodgers, this is Chief of the Counterterrorism Unit James Waters. I know that your extremely busy, but I have some important information for you."

"Yes, sir. Can you come down to BDU? Or should I go to 1PP?"

"Neither Rick. I am going to send you Lieutenant Kang from the Critical Response Command. He will brief you on the events that happened on the West coast and what we think might happen here."

"Sir, we have been at this all night. What do you have?"

"Captain, we are all on the same team. He'll be there in less than an hour."

"Yes, sir. We'll be waiting."

The call ends and Rick puts his phone back into his holder.

"So, let me guess, 1PP is sending someone from CRC to _brief_ us." Smitty says with the use of air quotes around the word brief.

"Looks that way." Rick replies to his friend.

"Rick, what were you going to say before the chief called?" Baez says in his traditional broken English Spanish accent.

"I was thinking that we use the manpower from a couple of sources. We can enlist the help of some of the detectives that we've worked with in the past at crime scenes. They'll just be gathering intel, nothing that life-threatening, right?"

"Okay. Who'd you have in mind?"

"There's a pair from the 1st Thomas and Fitzpatrick, that women from the 54th, ah I think her name was Lynch, and Esposito and Ryan from the 12th."

Dave just made a face when Rick mentioned the last two names.

"Dave, care to share?" Rick asked when he noticed the look of displeasure on his face.

"Rick, do you think that Kate would really loan them to us? She's down three detectives right now as it is."

"Dave, that's Lieutenant Rodgers to you, she worked too damn hard not to be recognized as a Lieutenant. And yes, I think that she would."

"Guys, let's take a break. We have been at this for the last five hours. Let's meet back here when Kang gets here." Smitty says.

The team breaks up and goes about tending to personal needs and Smitty pulls Rick into his office.

"Rick, you need to lighten up on Dave. He's still wet behind the ears."

"Paul, for how long huh? He's been with BDU for five years now. I know that she's my wife, but she is a Lieutenant in the NYPD she deserves the respect."

"Rick we've been friends for longer than I can remember. What you're doing now is uncalled for. Earning respect, yeah, that comes with the job and most people understand that but you never used it as a tool, ever. Rick, there's a shit storm that will be coming at us and fast, you need to be ready for what will come our way. So, just go easy on the kid, okay?"

"Yeah. Okay."

Xx

At a coffee shop somewhere in mid-town, two Middle Eastern men sit directly across from each other. Neither says a word as they drink their coffee. Taking a look around their immediate area, the older man passes a large envelope across the table. The younger of the two takes the envelope, nods but waits before he leaves.

"Allahu Akbar, La hawla wala quwata illa billah."

His reply is simple "Inshallah."

The younger man bows and then leaves, knowing what needs to happen next….


	9. Chapter 9

Aashif Kazim sits in the coffee shop and wonders what went wrong. The relays he made were flawless and they should have dropped every elevator in the office building to the ground floor from wherever they were in the shaft. The electrical diagrams he studied for the elevators were not the most secure. If anyone wanted to sabotage them, it would be easy to do just that with what is available on the internet. But still, he wonders what went wrong.

The relays he made were to operate on the power supplied until they became too hot to handle the stress of the elevator being used during the day. They were original Otis relays and no one would ever suspect that they were tampered with unless a closer inspection of the components was made. He had no fear that they would be scrutinized, but they would find nothing, he was that good. When he was in the shaft he had also removed the safety of the automatic braking system. The power supply was run on two different circuits and all the cars were to fail at the same time. He had watched the lobby many times during the day and the elevators were constantly in use. The cars were called to the lobby on a distribution system and every car was used. Every car was put into the rotation and the system did not favor one single elevator car to carry the passengers to and from their floors. According to his calculations, the relays he had replaced should have failed by mid-afternoon. They did but he did not get the result he wanted. The police had responded quickly to his handy work and he observed the two men who were there trying to figure out why the elevators stopped in mid travel. He stayed until they left and he made his way over to the building. He was still wearing his Otis uniform and what he needed to do would only take less than a couple of minutes. It had to because he needed to be somewhere else by ten pm.

Xx

Kang entered the BDU offices and is immediately looking for the Captain. He finds some of the members of the unit and asks where he is. Baez sees him first and looks him over knowing that the file that he holds in his hand will change everything as they know it.

"My name is Lieutenant Kang. I'm looking for Captain Rodgers. Do you know where he is?" Kang asks.

"Follow me, he's in the planning room." Baez tells the new visitor.

Rick and Smitty are going over the reports from LA, Portland, and Seattle. They're not liking what they're reading. The terrorists who detonated these bombs knew exactly when to detonate them. They took stock of the fact that people would be trying to escape and used it to their advantage. Rick knew the tactic well. He remembers that in some cases when a small detonation would proceed the larger ones, and this would send everybody running trying to escape with their lives. Too many people have lost their lives already and he needed to get ahead of this if they're going to have any chance of protecting the city.

"Captain, there is a Lieutenant Kang here to see you." Baez announces.

Rick moans internally. He knows that Kang is only here to help, but it still feels like he was sent to take over. Always being the gentleman, that he is, he tells Herman to show the Lieutenant in. When Kang enters, Rick extends his hand for a hearty handshake. Kang returns it with no resentment.

"Captain, my name is Lieutenant Kang. I was sent here by my boss to advise you on what is to happen next."

"Tell me, Lieutenant Kang, what will happen next?" Rick asked not caring if he stepped on this guy's toes.

"Well, Captain we have a credible source that thinks that the west coast incidents are not the last of what is to come." _This guy is all about the rank and file!_ _Kang thought to himself._

"What do you know Lieutenant?"

"We think that there will be a second wave of attacks on the country and possibly a third. Where this will take place is still yet to be determined, Captain."

Xx

Kate and Alexis are at a maternity store not that far from the loft. They have been at it for the last three hours and Kate is feeling very tired. It's not that easy shopping with her daughter and carrying her unborn son around.

"Mom, what do you think about this one?" Alexis holds up a cute pinstriped Yankee onesie with Aron Judge's number 99 on the back of it and the Yankee logo on front upper left.

"Lex, how many of these are you going to show me?" Kate asked exhaustedly and a little short.

"Mom? What's the matter? Are you okay?"

Kate, who did not want to upset her daughter and decided to tell her the truth.

"Honey, I'm really tired. I never thought having this baby would make me so tired and run down. I'm so sorry."

"Mom stop! Let's get home and get you comfortable so you can rest for a little while. I forget sometimes that you are doing everything for two."

"Alexis, it's fine. But I know that you wanted to shop I don't want to take you away from that." Kate insisted.

"It can wait, mom. We'll get an early start on Saturday if you feel up to it. This way if you do get tired we will be just about done. And we won't be that far from the loft too."

Kate really dreaded shopping in general. This was always something she wanted to do for her daughter and she really could never refuse her, but this afternoon her heart just wasn't in it.

Alexis looked at her mother and she could tell that something wasn't right. She knew that today's shopping excursion was a lot for a woman who was seven months pregnant. She really should have thought about this before they left the loft this morning. It wasn't that she did not want to spend time with her mother, she just thought that getting out of the loft, the stuffy loft would be a better thing to do for the both of them. She had only thought about the idea to go shopping after they were out and about.

"Come on mom let's go home." Alexis said as she hung the Aaron Judge onesie back up on the rack.

Kate and Alexis turned and walked towards the exit of the boutique maternity shop. Seeing that her mother was more than rundown than she said, she linked arms with her to give her a little support for the walk home.

Xx

"Lieutenant Kang, I'm not disagreeing with you. But as you can see my unit only has five members who know the ins and outs of people who want to do this city harm. If we put one of my team members in each borough it's going to take them forever to respond to a threat and that is one thing that I won't let happen. We need more manpower plain and simple."

"Captain, I'm not arguing with you, I'm trying to support you! My boss thinks that with your five team members and myself we should be able to handle any threat that is presented to us."

"Yourself? Lieutenant, what do you know about anything that involves explosives? Do you know the first thing about bomb disposal? And I don't mean recognizing what a bomb is. These terrorists are very creative and they change up the way that they manufacture their bombs, hide their bombs, and lastly detonate their bombs. I'm not too sure what your specialty is, but bomb detection and disarmament are the priority here and I hate to admit it but you don't look like a man who knows anything when it comes to explosives! I'm not sure I can send you out into the field without any experience and expect you to handle a situation that could jeopardize you and the public."  
 _  
Kang thought to himself, Rick if you only knew…_

Smitty who has been standing in the corner during this whole exchange had blended into the woodwork, they never realized he was there. He sees Kang's face start to get blood red and his hands curl into fists at the sides of his legs. He walks up alongside Kang and places a calming palm on his shoulder.

"Listen, guys, we've been at this for a couple of hours now, so why don't we take a little break and come back to this in let's say fifteen minutes time. Let's get a cup of coffee relax and then we'll come back to this in a few."

Smitty wanted to deter any possible fight or disagreement that would arise from what he just saw. Both men can only say one word and they say it in unison,

"Agreed."

After Kang walked out Smitty knew that this was the time, and started in on Rick.

"Rick, what gives? The man I just saw there is not the man I know. No, that man is nowhere around here. What is going on with you?"

"Paul, it's just that this has spiraled out of our control. This is going to put us under a microscope. We will be scrutinized for every move we make. What if Kang is not up for any of this? I don't know what he is or is not capable of. How can you be so calm about all of this?"

"Rick, you need to step back. I know that you have a lot going on right now, but whatever this is between you and Kang needs to be put aside, because let's face it our world will be changing drastically in the next day or two. You were never this way with accepting help before, so why the change in attitude?"

"Paul, this guy is full of himself. He's a know it all and it will get us killed. His heads not in the game."

"That's enough Rick! He is a Lieutenant in the NYPD give him the benefit of doubt.

"We'll see."

Xx

Deputy Inspector James Conner was hoping that Rick would accept help from Lieutenant Kang. Kang was a graduate of MIT and had been working in HPD as a bomb tech. His training had been exclusive to his time in the military. The United States Navy to be exact. He was trained in detecting, disarming and determining who built said device. His time when at MIT only put him at a disadvantage with the military amphibious bomb unit in the fact that he knew much more than they did and they resented him for it. But he took it with a grain of salt and become very close to the men of that unit. He became withdrawn of sorts when he and the UDT team responded to a bomb threat. This was his way of dealing with the possibility of him not returning from the job. But it turned out to be much worse in the end…

Xx

Aashif Kazim placed his backpack down on the steps to the office in a Brooklyn trucking yard. In it are the relays he made. As he watches five tractor trailers pull out of a warehouse staging area he checks off each one on a clipboard. They all had very familiar logos on the side of each trailer. One was adorned with the Best Buy logo heading to a store in Brooklyn, another had the J&R logo heading to lower Manhattan, the third was heading to a B&H store in the Bronx and the last two were heading to electronic stores in Queens and Staten Island respectfully. He checks off each one as they leave and if everything went according to their plans New York would feel their wrath. They were ordered to send these trucks out on their routes no later than tonight, deliver their shipments and return. Each man was paid handsomely to deliver 2500 units of an HP LaserJet Pro Wireless All-In-One Printers. They were to be sold exclusively to various businesses in and around New York City. Their printers were a part of the contract that most of these businesses had with the companies that supplied them. And if one or two were sold to unsuspecting private citizens, then they would suffer as well, such is life.

Each printer worked as it should. It was the additional punch that was added by a certain group of people that would bring the city to its knees. Inside each printer was 1.5 pounds of Pentaerythritol tetranitrate. It was disguised as non-essential parts of the machine as well as a panel made to match the flatbed part of the printer. Total weight of PETN is 1 pound, 10 ounces. The printer toner cartridges were packed with most of the explosives enclosed within. They were smart to keep enough room for the toner to give the illusion that the printer actually worked correctly. They had learned this from past failures. He sighs to himself. So many good friends and men had died not knowing how to find a safe way to detonate the explosive without being a victim themselves. But he is sure that Allah will watch over them now...


	10. Chapter 10

_**Flashback to May 3**_ _ **rd**_ _ **20017…**_

The call came into Hawaii's Bomb unit and Inspector Lanning answered the call.

"Inspector Lanning speaking, can I help you?"

"You can't Inspector I am beyond any kind of help. But you will have your hands full in about thirty minutes!"

"Who is this? And what are you talking about?" The Inspector asked the caller.

"Inspector, where would be the fun in that? Me telling you who I am. Earn your paycheck Inspector. Here's a hint… the school that your daughter loves so much will be a mere memory in less than… twenty-nine minutes." The caller could do nothing but laugh evilly as he hung up the phone.

"KANG, DELACRUZ, get your asses in here on the double! The inspector bellowed.

"Sir?" They both said as they entered their boss's office.

"I need the both of you to get over to King Kamehameha III Elementary School now! There is the possibility of a bomb being placed there, where, I have no idea. But I need you to find whatever it is and disarm it. My daughter is there and I can't lose her."

Kang could see that this was a man who was on the verge of losing everything. So, without another word he took off running to the gear room, grabbing anything he could think he would need to resolve this. Delacruz followed catching whatever he missed. They were in an unmarked when they arrived and they screeched to a halt in front of the school.

"John, I'll take the south side of the school, you go to the north and we'll meet in the middle. Check everything that looks like it doesn't belong. I mean anything!"

"Loto, what happens if we miss something?" Delacruz asked Kang.

"Then we have failed. Make sure that that won't happen, my friend."

They both left the for the back of the school and worked every space they could see in short order. They were fortunate that the school administration had cleared all the students from the school and were safely away from the building, it took them a while, but they were all safe. When his sweep was finished and everything that he looked at seemed ordinary by the time he came to the middle of the school and he waited for Delacruz. He started to worry when he didn't show. Could it really have taken him this long to complete his sweep? He started to walk down the corridor. Then he heard a transmission come across his earbud.

"Loto, I need help in the third classroom on your right. There is an undetonated device here and it's constructed from something that I've never seen before."

"John, I'm on my way. Don't touch anything until I get there."

"That better be in the next two minutes Loto, there is a timer on the device and it's moving fast in the wrong direction!"

Kang ran down the hallway and stepped into the classroom. Ironic as it was the this was the room where the Inspectors daughter had her classes.

"John, what do you have?" Kang asked.

"That's the weird thing, it's only a bundle of dynamite. The blasting caps are wired to the timer and there is a 9-volt battery powering the connection to the caps. If anything, this is crude. Whoever did this must think that we live in the stone age. All I need to do is pull the battery clear of the explosive and the bomb disarms."

John does just that and then everything goes downhill. When John pulled the power wire from the 9-volt battery and the building shook violently.

"Loto? What did we do?" Delacruz asked.

He tried to get his thoughts together and was about to answer and as a second and much closer explosion detonated.

"We run like hell, that's what we do!" Kang had bolted and never thought about looking back his fight or flight sense had kicked in. Delacruz started to run himself but he hesitated for a second when he thought he heard something to his right. He listened and watched the room zeroing in towards the supply closet.

"Hello! Is anyone there?" He yelled out.

He noticed the large wooden swing door move.

Changing direction, he started to move towards the back of the room. Pulling the door open to it's fullest all he saw were art supplies and smocks the kids used to keep their clothes clean when they painted hanging on pegs. Then he looked down and noticed a size 1 sneaker sticking out from the smocks.

"Is anyone in there? Are you okay?"

He sees the movement before he hears the small voice that whispers "I'm scared."

"Come on out here sweetheart." John asks. Just as he takes her hand in his, a third explosion detonates and shakes the floor beneath them.

"What's your name sweetheart?"

"Cheryl Anne." The little girl replies.

"Cheryl Anne, I'm John. Now I need you to listen to me. We are going to run out of here. I'll carry you and we'll make it out quicker, okay?"

The little girl just nodded to him showing him her tears. He picked her up and took off for the door to the classroom.

Xx

Kang made it to the school's entrance and stopped once he was outside and safely away from the school. He started to ask his partner if he was out of breath from the run never once turning around.

"John, that was close, are you out of breath…"

"JOHN! Where the hell are you?" He saw nothing so his friend must still be inside the school but why?

Then it happened. The next sequence of explosions caused the entire school to be completely destroyed. Kang looks on in horror knowing that his friend never made it out.

Xx

Herman decided that by the way he was moving he was having a daytime nightmare. Gently shook his free shoulder hoping he would wake up, but Kang kept on sleeping with his head resting on his forearm. He thought to himself when this man sleeps, he sleeps. It's like waking the dead.

"Lieutenant Kang" Herman just about whispered.

When he woke up, he could have sworn that the dream he just had was locked deep in his mind never to resurface again, but he was wrong. Bleary eyed he looked up at who had woken him.

"Officer Baez, I'm sorry for nodding off like that, I'm still trying to get used to the time change."

"Time change?" Herman asked.

"Yes. I came from Hawaii about two weeks ago. There is a five-hour time difference between here and there. My body is still trying to adjust. I'm sorry."

"No, I understand." Herman said feeling bad for him.

"Lieutenant, did you enjoy your nap?" Rick asked.

 _God this guy is such a dick! Why can't he see that I'm here to help him and his team?_

"I did not, thank you very much! Now that we've settled that, can we continue with what we need to do here?"

"I don't like your attitude Lieutenant! Let me make one thing perfectly clear here, I am in charge of my unit. No one else will waltz in here and try to take it away from me! These men who work here are my brothers, I will never let anything happen to them if I can help it."

Kang listened to his rant and thought for a solid minute before responding to Rick.

"Contrary to what you think Captain, I am not here for some hellbent hostile takeover of this unit of yours. I was sent here to do a job and I plan on doing just that. So, if you don't mind I need you to call this number and ask for Captain Connor." Loto hands Rick a business card, which he takes and turns away heading into his office.

Xx

Rick dials and the phone call ensues…

"I understand Jim, but this guy Kang is a cocky SOB."

"Rick, listen to me, give the guy a break. He's been through a lot. I do know one thing though, he is the classical definition of a professional. He can help, and that's why I sent him there."

"Jim, I trust you, but I'll keep my eye on him all the same. How long will he be assigned to me?"

"For as long as it takes. Rick, to better understand him, and if he is willing to talk to you, ask him about his last partner. It will let you see the real officer that he is."

"Okay, Jim. Keep me updated if you receive any new intel from the cases on the west coast."

"Will do Rick" Jim ends the call and hopes that Rick can see that Loto is one of the best but is still hurting from losing his partner.

Just as Rick gets up from finishing his phone call an alert on his phone chimes. Pulling out his phone to read it he hears Smitty, Baez, Dave, and Juan's phone alerted them with the same tone. He sank back down into his chair after he read the alert. Then the rest of his team flooded his office looking expectantly at him. Just as he started to answer their concerns Kang entered the office and waited with the rest of them.

"What happens now is an all out push to protect this city. There will be NO sacrifice too big or small. We will be vigilant in its defense!"

Everyone leaves the office to get back to the planning room. Kang steps forward to read Rick's message on the phone he left on his desk.

 _"To all precincts and commands, in two hours the city will be putting the following into effect: Curfew of all civilians starting at 2000 hours, until 0600 hours, travel will be limited to emergency services only. All time off and vacations are now canceled and all NYPD members are to report to their respective commands._ _God be with the people of Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago, and Minneapolis. More to follow."_

Kang just stared at the message and what he thought would happen, just did….


	11. Chapter 11

Alexis woke early and decided to do something nice for her mom. She made a healthy breakfast for her to eat and took it one step further by bringing it to her bedroom for her to eat. When she entered the bedroom, her mom was still asleep. She noticed the way that she was lying on the bed and instantly knew that she was hurting. She wondered if the medium size ball she had placed under her back was relieving any the pressure on her spine her brother was causing. She read somewhere that this relieved the pressure from the baby that kept pressing on her spine. Alexis balanced the breakfast tray on the nightstand and went back to the kitchen because she forgot the one most important thing.

When she returned she saw her mother sitting up, leaning herself against the backboard of the bed.

"Honey, you are a lifesaver. I'm glad that you didn't forget my decaf coffee."

"Mom I'd never forget your coffee."

"So, why breakfast in bed this morning?"

"Well, I thought that since we both had the day off we could start looking for baby clothes for my brother. I know that you were run down and tired last week, that's what the breakfast is for, it's to give you more energy for at least four hours of shopping time." Alexis said nervously.

"Oh, I see this is a bribe, are you bribing me?"

Alexis looked down trying not to give away her blushing cheeks and growing smile.

"Oh my God, you _are_ totally bribing me!" Kate said in a kidding tone.

"Okay yeah, so it's a little bribe. I just don't want to see you get tired later mom."

"Alright, I guess. Let me eat this wonderful meal that you had made for me, drink my coffee and then I'll get a shower and get dressed and we can go shopping."

Kate sees her daughter's face brighten up the second she finished the sentence. After her shower and she is dressed, she heads out to the kitchen to meet with Alexis.

"So honey, where did you want to go?"

"I was thinking that small maternity boutique about three blocks from here. And then there's another new store that opened up about 3 months ago that's not far away from the boutique. They have a great selection of baby clothes but they are more geared towards baby boys. They do have girl's clothes, but there is more of a selection for boys."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's hit the stores! Retail therapy should be fun."

Both women leave the loft and head for the stores talked about.

Xx

The reports that came into BDU where overwhelming to say the least. The incidents in Dallas, Chicago, Minneapolis, and St Louis were more destructive in regards to property then LA, Portland, and Seattle were. That's not to say that lives were not lost, but this round of attacks seems more about making a point. The terrorists targeted landmarks in association with each city they attacked. In Dallas, it was the Majestic Theater, Union Station, and the former Texas Book Depository. In St Louis, they attacked the Fox Theater, the Archway, and their own Union Station. Chicago had the most causalities. The targets there almost the same as Dallas and St. Louis. The Village Theater, Navy Pier, and Union Station. Minneapolis was hit like Dallas, St Louis, and Chicago. They had an entertainment venue destroyed, The Orpheum Theater, a transportation hub destroyed Union Depot, and a tourist location as well.

Xx

"Paul, is Kang out there anywhere?" Rick asked.

"Boss, he's taking a short catnap. Should I wake him?"

"Yeah, as much as I want him to rest, I need to talk to him. After you do that get everyone back in the conference room in a half hours' time, I need to talk to them."

"Okay. I'll send him right in." Smitty heads to the bunker room to get Kang.

Smitty heads to the bunker room. The bunker room is probably one of the most secure rooms in BDU headquarters. It was used as a storeroom until the allocation of funds gave them the opportunity to turn it into a small on-call room. It has three twin sized beds and a small TV. It is also soundproof, because if anyone who knows Baez, they know that his snoring can keep anyone up.

Xx

By the time they had been to three stores Kate was showing signs of exhaustion. She could still keep up with the red-headed fireball but it was becoming harder to do after each store they visited. As they left the fourth store Alexis was the one carrying their purchases. Kate wanted to sit and eat so as they walked past a decent looking café Kate asked Alexis,

"Sweetie, what do you say to a break? We could stop at this café and grab a bite, and maybe sit down?" She asked.

"Good idea, mom. This way we can take inventory and see what we need to get next."

Kate frowned. She thought that after they ate that would be the end of their shopping jaunt. She should have known better.

They ordered lunch and Alexis had taken stock of what they had.

"Mom, we did all right. We just need to hit the furniture stores and see what we can do about a changing table, a bassinet, and a crib. Oooh, what about a rocking chair?"

She sighed knowing that any reprieve would be impossibly further out of reach now. All she wanted to do was to curl up with her husband and luxuriate in his warmth.

"A rocking chair would be good. Where do you want to go, baby?"

"There is a store on the way back to the loft. We could hit it on the way home."

Alexis was no idiot. She knew he mother was not feeling their trip. At first, she was and loved spending time with her. But as the day wore on she noticed that she became more lethargic. So instead of pushing on, she agreed to have lunch to get her mom recharged. They would hit one baby furniture store and see if anything caught their eye and then head back to the loft.

"Mom, let's finish up here and walk to the store. A walk will do us good, don't you think?"

"What would I do without you? Let's pay the bill and head out."

After settling their bill they left the café. They walked on towards the baby store and Kate was actually feeling a little better. They are passing a J&R Express on Park Row and Kate remembered Rick telling her that his printer had hit the skids. She stopped suddenly looking into the front window display and Alexis almost fell forward when she did since their arms were still linked together.

"Mom?"

"Sorry honey. Dad told me that his printer had stopped working the other night. He tried to print something out on an organizational chart for the BDU. He wanted to get new a laser printer and I see that J&R has one here on sale this week. Let's take a look and see what we can find."

"Okay, but promise me that when we're done we go directly to the furniture store. Okay?"

"I promise."

Kate tugged her daughter's arm towards the store entrance. They knew exactly what department to go to so they headed in that direction. After looking at the printers for the last 10 minutes trying to decide which was the better one, a salesperson came up behind them and asked if they needed any help. And they both turned around Alexis was the first one to notice Kyle. Her cheeks automatically turned red and she tried to drop her head to let her red hair hide her blushing cheeks. Kate who had seen this decided not to put her daughter through any more torment and told Kyle that they were looking for a laser printer for her husband.

"What will your husband be using this printer for?" Kyle asked.

Alexis who finally overcame her initial embarrassment decided to speak up in place of her mother.

"Both my mom and dad are cops. But my dad needs the laser printer for a lot of reports and schedules that need to be printed up at home."

"So he'll be using it a lot then?"

"He will be. And of course, I'll be using as well. Alexis smiled at the very good looking Kyle.

"Well…. I'm really not supposed to be doing this but you are going to thank me when I do. Last night we received a truckload of new printers from HP. They are so new we're not supposed to be selling them to the general public because they are for major corporations here in the community."

"Really?" Alexis said.

"Yeah really. But you look like you could use a break. I can give you 15% off on this printer all I have to do is go to the back stock room and get you one." Kyle had told them but was looking at Alexis the whole time he was talking.

Kate rolled her eyes at how hard Kyle was trying to get her daughter to like him. So she would give this another five seconds before she made them return to reality.

"We'll take it, Kyle!" Kate said after waiting five seconds.

"Okay, then good choice. I'll be right back."

Kyle walked backwards towards the stockroom keeping his eyes on Alexis. That was until he backed up into a customer who was preoccupied with her cell phone. The collision was minor, Kyle apologized and helped her back up. Then he walked forward the rest of the way to the back room. He returned about three minutes with the printer in his hands.

"If you want I can have it sent to your address later today." He said looking at all the bags they already had in their hands.

"That would be great Kyle." Alexis told him.

"Good. I'll just bring this up to the front register so you can pay for it. Then I'll get your address for the delivery."

They all walked up to the front and Kate paid for the printer with her credit card. Alexis had taken a pen from the cashier and written down the address of the loft so Kyle could send the printer to them later. Deciding to be a little courageous she added her cell number along with a small heart next to it asking him to call her. She quickly folded up the note and placed it in his hand.

The furniture store had a vast selection of cribs, changing tables, and bassinets. It was sheer luck that they had found everything they needed and it went well with the nursery due to the neutral tones of the pieces they picked out. It would work well. All that was left was a rocking chair.

By the time they arrived at the loft the printer had been left at the front door. Alexis had slid it into her dad's office for him to set up when he came home later. Until then they would plan what the wanted to eat for dinner…


	12. Chapter 12

Smitty wakes up Kang and was not expecting his reaction. He was suddenly defending himself against a man half asleep thinking that he was there to cause him harm. He quickly grabbed his thrashing arms to stop from being hit.

"Lieutenant Kang! Please wake up. It's okay."

"Smitty?" Kang asked in confusion.

"Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?"

"I am. It was just a really bad dream. I'll be okay in a minute or two, thanks, Paul."

"Hey, it's what we're here for. If you ever need anything, come to one of us. This job has a way to mess with your head."

Kang could tell that he meant it. After getting his bearings, he asked Smitty why he woke him.

"Smitty, was there something you needed?"

"Wow, where is my head at? Rick asked me to get you. He needs to talk to you."

"What about"

"I honestly have no idea. Loto, just give him a little time. He is a good guy once he warms up to you."

"Okay. I'll go back and see him. Wish me luck."

 _Loto, you might need more than luck. Smitty thought to himself._

Rick heard the knock on his door. and looked up from the report he was reading.

"Lieutenant Kang reporting as ordered Captain."

"Step in and have a seat Lieutenant." Rick asked.

When he was settled in Rick looked at him not wanting to have this conversation, but it needed to happen.

"I have talked with your Commanding Officer and he speaks very highly of you Lieutenant. He tells me that you are one of the best. But, while that might be true, there is something else isn't there Lieutenant Kang?"

Loto looked for the taunt that might follow but saw nothing but curiosity and concern in the man's expression.

"Captain, I know nothing of your history. But I have seen the worst that the world can offer a man."

"I tend to keep my own history exactly that, mine. No one should have to deal with my demons but me."

"That's sad, Captain. You see I too have demons to fight, on a daily basis no less."

"Go on, Lieutenant." Rick wanted his story.

"Have you ever lost someone Captain? I mean for no good reason at all? Something that you had no control over?"

Loto could see that he had by the way that the man sitting in front of him changed almost immediately.

"Yes, I have Lieutenant."

"It was three months ago. I was sent to a bomb threat at an elementary school. My commander's child attended this school. We responded to the scene and the first thing we noticed was that all the children were evacuated from the school. This made our job just a lot easier."

"Our job Lieutenant?"

"Yes, my partner and myself. We conducted the search for the device and found something that was crude and basic. The bomber planted ten sticks of dynamite in a child's desk. It was wired for power with a simple 9-volt battery and a digital cooking timer."

"Let me guess, you both thought that since it was so simple that disarming it would be easy right? But by the look on your face, I can see that doing this resulted in tragedy."

"Right, Captain. But tragedy is not the correct term. Disaster fits better."

"Lieutenant, please call me Rick, most everyone here does." Rick was starting to warm up to him a little.

"Loto, Rick. That's what my friends call me." He continued his story as he noticed Rick start to grin.

"We both took off running when we heard the first explosion. I was well on my way out of the school by the time the second explosion happened. My partner was right behind me, or so I thought. He had apparently heard something in the classroom and went back to make sure that the room was cleared. He found a little girl who must have hidden in the supply closet."

"I have a bad feeling that this will not end well." Rick suspected.

"You're right because it doesn't. My partner took off for the exit of the school by the time the third and fourth explosions detonated. They were almost near the lobby of the school when the last two bombs went off."

Loto needs to stop telling the story to get the courage to finish. Finding the strength he needs he continues.

"When the dust settled, we started the recovery process. What I found still disturbs me to this day. My partner had tried to give his life to save that little girl. He used his body to protect her until the very end. He used himself as a human shield, he gave his life to save hers."

"Again I can see that there is more to this Loto."

"It turns out that the little girl who he tried to save was my Captains daughter. She didn't even make it to the hospital before we lost her."

"Loto, what was her name?" Rick knew that he would never tell him until he was ready because he had the same issue. Once you put a name to the victim, it became real. The failure that he as a BDU member would always live with.

"Not yet Rick." He sadly responded.

"Loto, I have a similar tale, but my story is more personal and it's for another time. Right now, we have a terrorist group to stop. I am sorry for coming down on you so hard earlier, but in my defense, all I could see was that you were a threat. That you wanted to come in and take over. I realize now that you were only here to help, and I could use that help now. Please accept my sincerest apology."

"Rick, it's forgiven and you're right we need to take these bastards down. But I have a feeling that they will be changing how they deliver their destruction. Have you noticed that when they started on the West coast they had selected targets that made a statement with body counts and injuries? Then in the mid-west, they picked targets that were softer? I mean there was death and injuries, but not on the scale that we had on the West coast. And they had hit basically the same type of targets in each city."

"I did pick up o the fact that a transportation hub, an entertainment venue, and a landmark were used, but why?"

"I think that when they want to strike again, it will be in a way that we won't be able to detect. And it won't involve three or four cities. It will be on a much large scale."

"Let's bring this to the others and maybe we can figure something out together." Rick rises out of his chair as does Loto. He hesitates before extending his hand and tightly grips the inside of Loto's forearm just below his elbow. Loto does the same. They both have an understanding of being brothers now.

Xx

Kate wakes up from her short nap with the urgency to pee. Ever since she's become as big as a house, the baby has been pressing down on her bladder to the point where she feels like she's going to wet her pants. So, she throws off the covers and stumbled into the bathroom. She's proud of making it past the shopping jaunt that Alexis had set up but it had taken a lot of her energy. Finishing in the bathroom she takes a look at herself in the mirror and can't wait until she brings her new baby boy into the world. She wonders what he'll look like, will he have Rick's eyes? Or his hair? Will he be tall and smart? She can't wait to find out. She leaves the bathroom only to find that when she's in the loft's living room the entire area is quiet. She looks over to see Alexis studying with books scattered all over the coffee table.

"Hey, honey. What are you studying so intently over there?"

"Mom, hey how was your nap? And I'm studying for my test in chemistry the extra credit course, remember?."

"I remember. And I'm glad that it's you and not me I couldn't stand chemistry in high school and I can just imagine what it's like for you on a college level."

"Once you get the basics down it's pretty much easy. Do you feel better now that you had your nap?

"I do. It helped a lot but I'm getting to the point now where this baby is taking over my body."

Alexis giggles when she hears her mother tell her this.

"It's not funny Alexis! Pretty soon I'm going to be bigger than the house and your brother is going to keep fighting to get out of my womb. One day far, far, away I want to see how you will deal with this when it happens to you. And then I can make fun of you and the way your own body betrays you!"

"Your right about one thing mom it won't happen for a very, very, long time. My life would be complicated with a baby, and you're forgetting the most important part I need someone to be a willing participant in making said baby."

"Kyle seems like an excellent candidate. Doesn't he?"

"Mom…." Alexis says as he draws out the "m" on her mother's name a little longer than necessary.

"What, I'm just saying that he's cute Alexis and maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing to go out on a date with him. I also noticed the way he kept talking to you like I wasn't even there."

Alexis just gave her mother a look and rolled her eyes at her. She wasn't getting into this conversation now not when she had studying to do. The second she goes back to start to read she's drawn away from her studying when the front door opens and her father walks in. She's up and out of the chair calling out his name when he walks in.

"Daddy!"

"Hey, pumpkin. How goes the studying? And who is Kyle?"

"Not going to talk about it! How was work?" Have you come up with a plan to keep the city safe?"

"We have a better understanding of the group that is attacking the country and what they might do. But none of none of what we came up with can predict anything."

"Babe, why are you home so early?"

"I'm not really here. I just came home to see the two most beautiful women in my life, can't a guy do that?"

"He can, but there is another reason. In your office now!" Kate knew that he never came home in the middle of the day unless he had a problem and by the way he cringed when she ordered him into the office whatever it was, it was a big one.

Xx

She stood there after he retold the initial confrontation he had with the new Lieutenant. What she was is disappointed. He had never acted this way when he met someone new either personally or professionally. So, it had to be two things that put him in this mood. The first she hoped it wasn't but she could not count it out, but her other thought seems more likely. And she was going to tell him so.

"Are you proud of yourself Rick? Since when have you ever done this to someone you've just met? You always, and I mean always give someone new the benefit of doubt until you get to know them better. What you did today was skip over the getting to know him part and just laid into him for no reason at all. What you did today is inexcusable! He, like you, has suffered a major trauma in his life and you go off on him like he's your enemy. I know you Rick, and this isn't you so tell me what's wrong?"

"Kate, it's a lot of things. It's you being close to delivering our son, it's Alexis and her school and making sure she's okay, it's the payment for the loft every month, it's thinking that Kang was going to come in and take over, and it's these terrorists! I don't know what to do to stop them."

"Rick, that's what we deal with in the life that we lead. Not once did I hear you say that you were sorry for saying what you said to Lieutenant Kang. I think what you need to do march your ass right back to BDU and apologize to him."

"Kate I already have. We came to an understanding."

"I believe you. But why did you doubt someone who might be able to give you some help in the first place? You never have in the past."

"Kate, it was just overwhelming for me, I had a lot to deal with. I am sorry that I treated him badly."

"You should be telling him this, not me. I know that you apologized to him, but you need to accept him as a part of your team even if he is temporary."

"I will." Rick takes a look around the office and notices the new printer sitting on his desk.

"Where did you get this and when?" He asked her as he pointed to the new printer.

"Oh, we were going to hit one last store and as we walked to it, I saw that J&R had a sale on laser printers. So, we bought it. The clerk, who I think likes Alexis gave us 15% off on the sale price, we paid less than the retail!"

"Well, that's one less problem I need to deal with. Thanks, baby."

"Always." She replied.


	13. Chapter 13

Everything was going well. The trucks that had been dispatched earlier last week had made their deliveries and returned. The next part of the plan had to be strategically pulled off with no hitches there was no room for errors. He's back in the same yard that he was in last week. Clipboard in hand, he gives the bills of lading to each of the drivers as they arrived at their rigs.

This will be a coordinated effort to send over 500,000 LaserJet printers to the cities of Boston, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Baltimore, Washington DC, Jacksonville, Richmond, Raleigh-Durham, Miami and Tampa. Each printer has been modified to their specifications to provide for maximum destruction. There is, however, a recent discovery that gives them an advantage in the detection of the cargo. The technicians who built the printer bombs have found a way to make them undetectable by the means of a canine's acute sense of smell. A dog could walk right up to it, sniff it, and walk away without alerting his handler that the cargo was destructive. He doesn't know what it is since he's not in that field, but he has seen the tests that were done with one pound of explosives that were treated with this chemical and one that was not. The dogs hit instantly on the one that was not treated. The other explosive that was treated did not alert the German Shepherds to any threat at all.

The trucks will depart at midnight, and the furthest delivery away is Miami. From New York, the truck to Miami should only take the driver two days to arrive at his destination. The timetable is tight and the attack is scheduled to happen in one month's time from the last delivery date to the store there in Miami. They decided to go with Best Buy as the retailer to spread their message and traveling at night will be less suspicious. Common everyday people will be buying these printers. The decision came after the primary printers were delivered in and around New York City to make the general public suffer as well. And suffer they would.

Xx

 _Lieutenant Kang, report to the captain's office ASAP._

Loto heard his name come over the public address speaker and was immediately on his feet. He rushed to Rick's office because they had been working on a possible scenario of when and where they thought the next attack was going to take place on the East Coast.

"Rick, what did you find?"

"Loto, what I found is disturbing. There are many splinters of this one group operating within the United States. This one, in particular, seems hell-bent on wreaking havoc all over the city, strike that, all over our country. This is the only group I can see pulling something like this off. They have money, they have the manpower and they are going to show everyone that they are in charge."

"Rick that's just it, with these guys it's not about being in charge. It's about getting their viewpoints recognized by other people. But somewhere along the line, it's turned into more of a pissing contest of my slingshot is bigger than your slingshot mentality."

"They've lost the meaning of the message and how they are delivering it. It used to be civil. They would talk to other groups and people and express their viewpoints on whatever they were talking about religion mostly. Then someone came up with the bright idea of forcing their ideas on someone and that's where we are today."

"Loto, I can understand their plight. But it's our job to stop them from taking innocent lives. While it's true they actually have a constitutional right to their religion, they're taking it a step too far. What they're doing now is taking innocent lives for their beliefs. How many of these people are going to remember what their protest was about after they kill countless men women and children?"

Loto could only stare at Rick knowing that he was right.

"What I needed to do was plan better. I was foolish not to ask for certain items to fight this when the budget review gave me the extra money to strengthen up the unit."

Loto needed to put a stop to the way he was thinking and he needed to do it now. This was nothing that he had any control over.

"Rick, you could have never predicted what would happen then. What we will do is our best to figure out where they're going to hit us next."

Xx

Kate sits lazily in the recliner across from her daughter. She had just finished her last final exam of the semester. She walked into the loft and sat down across from her wearing nothing but a smile. Kate was so very proud of her. She wanted to graduate from college earlier than the four years, so she actually put her mind to it and finished in less than three and a half.

"So, baby, what do you plan on doing next? Because I know that mind of yours is never idle."

"Actually mom, your present condition gave me the idea of what I want to do now."

"I did? What condition?"

Alexis giggled to herself a little before she told her mom what she was thinking.

"Mom, you're pregnant. And I'm thinking that a pediatrician will be the next logical step for me. Now I won't be able to treat my brother yet, but I'm hoping that there will be more babies for me to see in the future that I _can_ take care of."

"I hope that your right sweetie, but your dad needs to agree to have more babies too you know, I can't do it without him." She laughed a little at her own statement.

Kate and Alexis discussed her future as a doctor specializing in the care of children. Then she decided to see how the Kyle state of affairs was progressing along.

"So baby, tell me about Kyle. How is he?" Kate pried.

"Mom, come on he's cool and everything, but I don't know if we have that much in common."

"Alexis, listen to me. Who cares if you have anything in common. I mean it could be that you have a lot in common you just need to let go and say yes when he asks you out on another date. He seems like a great guy. Has he called you yet?"

Alexis really needed to change the subject of her love life or lack thereof.

"Mom, was it that easy for you and dad? I mean did he do it for you? Was he what was missing in your life I mean?" Alexis was having her doubts about finding the one person to be with.

"Sweetie, you were there for our whole courtship. I really think that you knew that we were supposed to be together before we even realized it. But yes, he was it for me. I love him with all my heart."

"Mom, I just want to be sure that the same happens to me, you know to have that kind of love that lasts forever. Like what you and dad have."

"Alexis, the only way you will find out is if you accept the man's request for a second date. You need to say yes."

Deciding not to push her daughter she eases up on her love life. It's then when her son decided to have a one-child soccer game in her womb. She can feel him kicking up a storm and at the same time he is pressing down on her bladder and she needs to pee again.

"Alexis, can you help me up? I need to go to the bathroom and I'm stuck in the loveseat."

"Sure mom." Alexis gets up and walks over to her mom and offers her hands to pull her up. Kate takes her hands and when she does Alexis gives a gentle tug to bring her up to a standing position. The motion twists her abdomen a little and she feels a slight dull pain. Since she's vertical she turns and heads to the bathroom.

"I'll only be a minute in the bathroom and then we can get dinner started for dad. Okay?" Kate throws over her shoulder as she walks away.

"That sounds good mom, I'm starving!"

Just as Kate is about to turn to leave the same twist in her abdomen happens again, but this time it's sharper, deeper. She hesitates a step and then it happened. She and the hardwood floor are both covered amniotic fluid.

The first thought to enter Kate's head is that it's too early for this to happen. She's not due to deliver her baby for another month. Somethings wrong. She looks over to her daughter who is just about to walk away but stopped when she heard the choked cry of her mother calling her name.

"Alexis…"

"Mom, what's wrong?

"Baby, somethings not right. I know my water just broke, but something feels off. He's not moving, please help me, honey! I can't lose him now, oh god no, this can't be happening to us now not after everything we wanted..."

Her daughter is standing across from her in less than a second.

"Mom, just try to calm down. I'll drive you to the hospital and we'll get you admitted and they will take care of you."

Alexis lays Kate down on the couch and takes her vitals. Seeing that she is only a little wet and uncomfortable her vitals tell her that she is well enough to travel. She gets her back up and out to the car down in the garage holding onto her hand the entire time.

Xx

The ride to the hospital is a quick one and at the ER, interns some of which Alexis knows help her mom into a wheelchair. She is swiftly moved to the ER and then quickly transferred to a gurney. Alexis can only give her moms vitals and a short family history before she lets her hand slip from her grasp on her mom as she is pushed down the corridor and out of her reach. Then she loses sight of her behind the swinging doors that lead to labor and delivery area. Alexis at this moment has never felt so alone in her life.


	14. Chapter 14

All she can do is pace in front of these damn plastic uncomfortable chairs. She tried to sit in one and regretted it five minutes later when her back started to protest. She called her dad, but he told her that it would take time for him to get to her and her mom. She is so scared, no matter what training she has been through, it is so different when you have no clue about how someone you love is doing. Someone you know and love unconditionally.

"Miss Rodgers?" A young tall dark haired doctor asks.

She looks up startled to see him looking a bit uncomfortable for the situation she's in, knowing that what he needs to tell her can't be good.

"Yes, I am her."

"We have run some initial tests on your stepmother…"

"She is my MOTHER! Not my stepmother." She said angrily.

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me." He said as he flinched back a step at her shouting.

"What did you find out?" Alexis really wanted to know that her mom was okay.

"Right now, she is doing fine. We have already ruled out any stress-related complications concerning her own health."

"What about my brother? She told me that she couldn't feel him moving on the way here."

"Miss Rodgers, this is a normal occurrence with a woman who is this far along in her pregnancy. There is not much room for your brother to move around in the ninth month."

"Doctor, my mother is in her 29th week. She is nowhere near her ninth month yet."

"Oh. Please excuse me." Then the doctor took off running towards the swinging doors leaving her full of questions and all alone once again.

Xx

The second Alexis called he was sprinting to his truck but Smitty's car was blocking him in. With the phone still attached to his ear even though she ended the call minutes ago, he looks in the ignition to see if the keys are in it. They are. He hops in and takes off for the hospital tossing his phone on the front passenger seat. He needed to get to them. It turns out that rush hour traffic became his enemy. He was sitting at a red light at 36th and Park Ave. He should just throw the strobe light up on the dash and blow through the traffic light but decided against it when he noticed a 17th precinct patrol car opposite him waiting for the light to change to green. he did NOT need to be stopped for breaking the law now. Why now of all times did they decide to follow red light regulations? The light changed and he was rolling again. New York Presbyterian Hospital was where they were. If he had the luck of the traffic light gods he could be there in less than seven minutes.

Xx

Kang and Smitty are left standing in the conference room by Rick's hasty departure and they continue going over the recent attacks in the Midwest.

"Why did they hit these specific targets Loto? What makes these locations special?" Smitty questioned.

"I'm not that sure, but this tells us something. It tells us that they are stepping up their targets. On the West coast, they only hit three locations. Here in the Midwest, they added a fourth. Can we expect more on the East coast?" Kang asked.

"What I think is that they are going to show us that they mean business. Whatever it is they have planned it's going to be much bigger than we can handle with the manpower we have now."

"We really need Rick here with us so we can go over what we think will happen. I personally think that they're going to strike numerous targets in and around the city. We can only speculate that they will hit Grand Central, the airports, the passenger ship terminals, and anything else that moves people around the city. Then there are all the theaters on Broadway. That's not to mention all the historical locations that we can't cover. We're spread too thin as it is and Manhattan is a more target-rich environment."

"You're right! We really do need Rick here."

Xx

Rick was finally able to get through the multitude of traffic and make it to the hospital. He parked Smitty's unit and ran into the ER entrance hoping he could find out what was going on with his wife.

Xx

She had been asked so many questions in such a short amount of time, she's not sure she answered them with the right response. She still didn't know what it was that was causing the pain in her abdomen. It became sharper the closer they got to the hospital. When Alexis was helping her get her out of the car she could see the pain in her movements. And she didn't want to worry her daughter, so she told her everything would be fine even when she knew something was very wrong.

"Mrs. Rodgers, I'm going to give you a…."

The doctor was cut off half way through his sentence.

"You'll do nothing of the sort. This is my patient and I'll see to her health and wellbeing" A very familiar voice said.

She'd know that voice anywhere. And when she heard it she immediately calmed down.

"And just who do you think your doctor?" The doctor working on Kate asked.

"As I told you that woman is my patient. My name is Dr. Suzanne Mitchell. I have privileges here so please put down that syringe."

The other doctor relented, but not happily. Suzanne walked up to Kate's bedside.

"Kate? What happened?" Suzanne asked.

"Suzanne, I'm not too sure. Alexis and I were sitting in the living room and I had the urge to pee. She helped me up I felt something twist in my abdomen and the pain got worse. It was sharp and deep whatever it was. My water broke and here I am."

"How was your little one acting? Was he active or was he calm?"

"Right up until my water broke and felt like he was having a playdate in my stomach. He was active but now he's not moving at all and I'm really worried. Suzanne something bad has happened to him."

"Kate, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves okay. Let me run some basic tests and we'll see what's going on with you and him."

Kate watched as Suzanne rolled over the ultrasound machine to the side of the bed. Suzanne pulls her blanket down to expose her stomach. She removes the transducer, the gel and turns the machine on. Then she places a ribbon of gel on her stomach and starts to press the transducer against her skin. Kate watches the screen and can see her baby. She watches as Suzanne glide's the transducer over her stomach but the one most important thing is missing. His heartbeat. Kate looks up to Suzanne with tears starting to well up in her eyes.

Seeing the look on her face she is quick to comment on the situation.

"Kate, relax. There are times when the baby's heartbeat cannot be heard even this far along in the pregnancy. But I can see his heart beating so everything is fine. Since you are a bit upset what I'm going to do is place an external fetal heart monitor on your stomach. You'll be able to hear your son's heartbeat for the time you're here. Suzanne straps the monitor on hears the heartbeat and tells Kate that she will be right back.

Xx

Suzanne heads out to the waiting area to find the one person who might be able to give some more information. She sees who she wants to talk to quickly.

"Alexis?" Suzanne called out to Kate's daughter.

What happened next, she totally expected. Alexis had thrown herself at her and hugged her as if her life depended on it.

"Is mom alright?" She mumbled into the collar of her lab coat.

"Alexis, you did a good job and you got her here that's what counts the most. Right now, she and the baby are doing fine. But, your brother might be here sooner than you think. Where's your dad?"

A sweaty and out of breath Rick Rogers opens the door from the stairway to the labor and delivery area. He sees Suzanne and Alexis hugging and runs over to them.

"Suzanne, where is Kate? What's going on with her? Alexis, what happened?" Rick didn't know who to get information from first.

"Rick, I'm going to tell you the same thing I told your wife less than two minutes ago. Calm down!"

"Dad, Suzanne just came out from seeing mom so whatever it is it can't be that bad. Let's just hear what she has to say first."

"Your daughter is right Rick. There is nothing wrong with Kate or the baby. I ran some preliminary tests on her and other than her blood pressure being elevated a little, everything is fine with her. The ultrasound shows that the baby's heart is also beating strong, it was the one thing that Kate was most concerned about so I showed her. Right now, I have an external fetal heartbeat monitor on her so she can hear his heartbeat while she lays there going through her labor." Suzanne smiled brightly as she looked at Alexis and Rick.

"Wait, she's in labor? Rick asked.

"Yes, Rick she is. This happens sometimes when people like your wife who are very slim and active in their everyday life. It's nothing to worry about she's only five weeks premature but this should not be a problem because your son is so far developed in the pregnancy that he will be fine. He might need to spend some time in NICU to finish developing his lungs but I've dealt with births like this and everything turns out to be okay.

When can we see her Suzanne? Rick asked with Alexis nodding her head like it was going to fall off her shoulders.

How about if I take you back now. Then you can see that she's fine.

Xx

The NYPD has many specialized units to use for gathering information. Aviation, ESU, Harbor Patrol, K-9, units organized crime, narcotics, anti-gang, criminal intelligence, and counterterrorism. The counter-terrorism unit keeps eyes on people who are possible threats within the city. They operate a lot like homicide department. They gather clues and information and make informed decisions on who to watch and who not to watch. Not that everyone they suspect will be watched. But Aashif Kazim has been someone that they have been keeping a hard eye on. He fits the parameters of a terrorist but, after an extensive background search, he was clean. He had no ties to anyone, so they just let him do what he did. He was like anybody else in the city he went to work made a living and tried to better himself in the process. Right now, he was attending a night course in accounting. But all the same, they would keep someone on him just to be sure he did not have a misstep.

 **A/N: To all who celebrate it I wish you a very Merry Christmas! I would also like to wish those who follow their respective faiths a happy holiday season.**

 **A/N 2: When I posted this story 80% of it was already written. There are not many chapters left but they need to be written. I will try to keep the posting schedule as promised but with life happening and the holidays it may be reduced to every Sunday at 7:00 am EST. Sorry for the inconvenience.**

 **P2P**


	15. Chapter 15

Of all the ways for an investigation to break wide open this was the most unconventional way, they never expected this.

The call came into the call NYPD call center at 7:30 pm. The 9-1-1 dispatcher knew that the caller was tense when she talked to him and she hoped that he'd stay on the line with her until she was able to get him to the right department.

Seeing that this was not an emergent type situation she had passed him on to her supervisor. He, in turn, sent him on to his supervisor, and after that, he was transferred to the NYPD counter-terrorism unit.

"Good evening sir, this is Officer Thompson of the NYPD counter-terrorism unit. How can I be of assistance to you?" Officer Chris Thompson asked the caller.

"Officer Thompson, I am a retired driver for CRT. This is the transportation company contracted out for Best Buy to deliver to their stores. My apartment complex is directly across from a yard that has ersatz Best Buy tractors and trailers leaving at all hours of the night. I find it hard to believe that Best Buy would ship anything at night this way because, when I worked for them we always shipped their product during the day. I'm just concerned, but I think you might want to consider what is going on over there as suspicious, questionable even. It could be beneficial to the city and its safety."

"Sir, thank you for being so observant. I guarantee that we take these matters very seriously. We will have investigators look into your claim. I'm not 100% sure but if this leads to an arrest due to illegal activities there could be a reward paid out by Homeland Security."

"Officer Thompson, a reward is not necessary. But please keep me up to date on what you have found."

Officer Thompson jotted down the man's name address and telephone number, so he could keep him informed. Very rarely did people come forward when they thought there was a threat to the city. Hanging up he relayed this information to his commander. Who then contacted the New York State Department of Transportation heavy truck inspection unit.

Xx

Smitty needed to decide. He needed to rationally figure out how to coordinate this latest information he was given. And he needed to do it without Rick.

"Loto, the way we need to do this needs to be perfect. NYSDOT and the State Troopers, along with us should be all in one room."

"Paul, the nearest NYS trooper barracks is on Wards Island. We could set up a teleconference with them and then we could put into place the plan we are thinking about executing."

"Okay, let's get the rep from the DOT in here and we'll make the call."

Ever since the information had been passed to them earlier that day by the CTU, from a concerned citizen no less, the BDU, NYSP and The NYSDOT had decided to put a stop the fake trucks that were heading out of the city. After confirming with Best Buy that they had no yard in Brooklyn to ship their freight from, the NYSP and the NYPD had begun surveillance of the terminal in Brooklyn. Smitty and Loto had been over the invoices that Best Buy had given them access to and every one of their shipments were accounted for.

"Loto, whoever is shipping this freight they are generating their own waybills. We need to see them first hand."

"Smitty, you know that we were told not to be anywhere in their location until they come back here. Whatever you need it can wait."

"Loto, it can't we have no way of knowing where these shipments are going or what is on those trailers." Smitty stressed.

"Smitty, do not give me those sad puppy dog eyes! That look will not work on me."

"Oh alright! Damn, I wish I knew what they were moving out of the city."

Why don't we give Rick a call? Maybe he could give us some help." Loto suggests.

"Smitty, State Police are on line three. Something about the freight they're moving out of Brooklyn." Baez yells out from the conference room.

"Smitty, you deal with that call and I'll give Rick a call."

"Loto just be forewarned his wife is in the hospital and probably about to give birth. So, don't expect him to be that focused." Smitty says.

"Yeah, I got it."

"Lieutenant Smith speaking."

"Lieutenant Smith this is George Farris New York State Police Troop T out of Ward Island. I have information for you that we need to discuss. Can you get Officer Kang too, there is a lot to go over."

"Sure, can we do this over the teleconference? He's in the middle of a call with our Captain right now. Will five minutes work for you?"

"Sure, call me back." The call ends and Smitty heads over to Loto in the hallway.

"Rick? Are you there?"

"Loto, listen I'm in the middle of a crisis right now. Can I call you back?" Rick asks.

"Okay Rick, whenever you have the time." Loto answers.

"I am guessing that Rick is up to his eyeballs in a crisis, now right?" Smitty says as Loto stares at his now inactive phone.

"Yep, as much as I expected."

"How is Kate doing?"

"I don't know. I never got that far into the conversation to ask."

"Loto, we need to get back to the conference room and call the State Police. They have information for us."

Loto and Smitty head back to the conference room and to make their call.

Xx

"Kate there is something that I need to talk to you about."

"Suzanne? What is it?"

Rick who just ended his call, walks over to the duo.

"Kate, your too early to deliver and there are some procedures that we need to prepare for you to keep you and the baby healthy. I know that this is not a part of your birth plan, but we need to do this."

"Suzanne, what will happen to our son? Is there a chance he won't make it through this? Rick asked.

"Listen to me, the two of you! I have a plan and I will tell you what the plan is. It's not going to harm your son in any way. It will, however, require Kate to stay here the duration of her pregnancy…."

 **A/N: Happy New Year! I hope everyone has a great 2018!**


	16. Chapter 16

Rick stood at Kate's bedside and Suzanne walked up to stand with them, her external fetal monitor sounding loudly. She bowed her head trying to get the plan straight in her head before she proceeded. Looking them both in the eyes she started. She only hoped that Kate did not regret being stuck in a bed.

"Kate, Rick I'm going to order full bedrest for you here at the hospital. I could send you home, but with the medication I will be giving you I need you to stay here so we can monitor you and the baby."

"Suzanne, I'll be here for another two months!" Kate said in frustration.

Suzanne looked at Kate with a sorrowful face knowing that she would feel this way.

"Kate, I know. But this needs to be done for you and the baby."

"Suzanne, I'm not sure that I can be away from the precinct for that long. I don't have enough time left."

I'll square it with your boss, Kate I can't stress how serious and complicated this can be. Your son's lungs are not quite developed to the point I'd like them. If he were to make his grand entrance now, you'd be watching him through an isolette, you would not be able to hold him, or nurse him."

Rick gently slides his hand up and interlocks their fingers together. Then he gives her a loving squeeze.

"Okay, Suzanne. What happens now?"

"Alright, first I will be giving you an injection of Betamethasone. This drug is a steroid and it will help your son's lungs develop a little faster. If I can get an OR hopefully today but if not then tomorrow morning first thing, I will be performing a cerclage."

Rick always curious asks,

"What is a cerclage Suzanne?"

"A cerclage is a procedure that will keep the baby inside the womb until the due date. But that sometimes does not work if your son wants to make an appearance earlier. What happens is that stiches are placed in Kate's cervix. This closes the cervix preventing the baby from delivering earlier than we need."

Rick swallows a little harder after hearing that and squeezes Kate's hand a little harder.

"The procedure takes about an hour from start to finish. After that there will be no undue movements.

"What about my water? It broke before we got here, won't that cause an infection?" Kate asked.

"We will replace it. It won't be exactly the same, but it will help. After the procedure is done and you have been brought back to your room, I'll keep the fetal heart monitor on you. I'll also hook you up to a heart monitor and quarterly on the hour BP checks. If I see that your blood pressure starts to rise above what I think is safe, I will give you some Magnesium sulfate or Procardia. These medications will help lower your blood pressure and keep you and the baby out of danger."

"Suzanne what's the worst-case scenario?" Rick asked.

"I'm not going to lie to you, if what we have planned declines, we will need to deliver your son. Depending how early he is he and his current lung capacity and devolvement he will be placed into an isolette. Then, if needed, he will be placed on a respirator if his lungs are not where they need to be. Rick, this is the worst-case scenario. But hopefully with the procedure we do tomorrow or even tonight possibly, your son should able to be brought to term. But Kate will be required to stay in bed with the exception of bathroom breaks. Rick, Kate that was the worst case. The downside about the meds that I am going to give you can affect his immune system, neurological development, and growth of the baby in the long term, the upside is that these same drugs can reduce his risk of dying by up to 40 percent."

Rick locks eyes with Kate and looks deeply into them. Her emotions are all over the place and he can see she's just about to break down. Suzanne who senses the same thing tell them this,

"Listen guys, I'm going to check to see if there's an OR available for the procedure. On my way out, I will talk to the nursing station to get you started on the betamethasone."

Suzanne turns and walks away heading directly for the nurse's station. Rick who sees Kate now barely holding on watches her as she watches the door close. It's only then when she breaks down and sobs uncontrollably. He's there in a heartbeat holding on to her as if his life depended on it.

Xx

"Caroline, can you do me a favor?"

The young nurse stops writing in the chart she is updating and looks up at Suzanne.

"Kate Rogers, my patient in 3107, I need you to administer 12 mg of betamethasone times two. One injection now, and another, twelve hours from now."

"Suzanne let me get her chart and I'll write the order in. I just need the script."

Suzanne writes the prescription for the betamethasone and looks at the OR board behind the nurse's station. She sees that there are no OR rooms available for the procedure she wants to perform tonight. So, she takes the dry erase marker and writes in Kate name for the procedure at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Xx

The NYSP had efficiently stopped twenty-seven of the thirty Best Buy fake tractor trailers within the state of New York. Each were pulled over for a random check for compliance for the New York state and Federal commercial vehicle regulations. Upon further questioning of these drivers the state police had found out that there were three trucks that had escaped the confines of the city by leaving before they could get into position to stop them and were in route south.

"Smitty, according to the State police there are three trucks that have escaped. They are heading to Miami, Charlotte, and Richmond. We need to notify the state troopers in those states and get them stopped." Kang told him.

"How soon can we get them into position?"

"It depends on the route they took. The Miami truck should be easy. That truck should be running down the I-95 corridor. The other two could possibly take two routes. One I'm guessing would be I-81 south to I-77 then into Charlotte. The last truck could take that route or stay on I-95."

"Loto, all commercial trucks need to pass through the weigh stations entering each state, right?"

"Yes, but there are some that could be closed or unmanned. Then there is pre-pass. It's like an easy pass for trucks, it gives them the ability to bypass the weigh stations completely. That is if their registration, insurance, is current and the SAFER score is high enough."

"Why can't we catch a break?"

"Smitty did the State Police tell us what was in these trucks?"

"No word yet. They are still knee deep in false paperwork. It might be a while before we know."

Xx

This is a nightmare. He's been followed almost all the way home from work. Giving them his address by going home will not be a good thing. He needs to lose these cops before they connect him with the printer shipments. He picks up his pace and sees a way to get away cleanly. The subway entrance is up ahead and if he moves quick enough he can catch the next subway downtown.

Xx

"5-David-20 he's moving into the subway entrance on 43rd street. Are there any available units to intercept?"

"Stand by 3-Romeo-62." There is radio static and then he hears 5-David-20 again. "3-Romeo-62 there is a unit on the opposite side of the platform. It will take time for them to get there. You need to follow. We'll advise when we can place more teams on the subway. The next stop has two units in place, so just observe until they board."

"Copy that 5-David-20."

Officer Peter Washington follows the suspect they have been following for the last week. Aashif Kazim. They had found damning evidence that he was not only involved in terrorist attacks, but planned them as well. He was one of the leaders who decided what happened on the East coast. Washington boards the subway car at the same time his suspect does. He takes a seat where he can still observe him but not be seen that easily. They ride to the next stop and he is informed that a team of State troopers and a team of NYPD officers will board at the next stop. He can only hope that nothing goes wrong before they get there…

Xx

Alexis is worried. Her mom and dad have been in with the doctor now for the last two hours. She desperately needs to know what is going on. She has had enough of the crap they pass off as coffee here and she's tired. Just as she is about to go over to the nurse's station she sees Suzanne walk out.

"Suzanne? What's happening with my mom?"

"Alexis, it's complicated."

"Well then uncomplicate it for me!" She did not mean to be so cross with, but her waiting has put her on edge.

"I'm sorry Suzanne, please forgive me?"

"Alexis it's fine. I know that you're worried. So let me pencil in your mom for a procedure and I'll tell you what's going on, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks Suzanne."


	17. Chapter 17

Stir Crazy doesn't even cover it. She had been all for some R&R when Suzanne ordered her to strict bedrest. Now it was something that she loathed. Rick had been by a couple of times since she was stuck in this bed two weeks ago, and she was happily amused by the stories he'd tell her. She was happy because it took her mind off her current imprisonment. And then there was her daughter. She had been a lifesaver. Always taking the time to make sure that she was comfortable and well fed. God knows she would never survive on the food that the hospital had given her. So, with her doctors okay, Alexis had brought her lunch and sometimes dinner from many of her favorite places to eat.

"Mom, are you decent?" Alexis giggled as she asked her question while knocking on her door.

"Really baby? I stuck in a bed, how else would be if not decent?"

"Well, I'm only making sure that you're dressed at least. It was so hot here last night that you were down to your nighty. I could see your…" She stops her commentary when her mom cuts her off.

"Alexis Harper Rodgers, you even think about finishing that sentence and we will need to have a serious talk about boundaries."

Alexis drops her head, but not quick enough for Kate to notice her face turning red.

Seeing that she'd recover some she asked her daughter,

"So tell me what you bought me for lunch?"

"Remy's. Your fav. A double bacon cheeseburger and a chocolate shake."

"No fries?"

"Mom come on, I'd never forget the fries they're to die for!"

As they sit and eat not much is said between mother and daughter. Alexis uses this time to get her questions straight for when they are done eating. She has so many and not just of her mom's pending delivery.

Xx

Rick was really hating being here right now. Since the day that Kate was put on mandatory bed rest, there had been a lot happening with the attacks that were planned for the East coast. They had effectively stopped all but one of the trucks that were moving the bomb-laden printers out of New York. It turned out to be the Miami truck. It was stopped near Kingsland, Georgia about a mile and a half from the Florida state line. Georgia State Police had been alerted when Kingsland PD had noticed the alert on their computer in their cars and stopped the semi that was moving south on I-95 through their town. Florida Highway Patrol had sent three marked units in support. Everything was fine, well as fine as capturing a terrorist could be. They had Hammad Naifeh in custody. Then everything went to shit. The Georgia State Troopers had formed a wedge around the truck with their patrol units tactically blocking him in but this left them exposed on all sides. Most of the Troopers and all of the men from Kingsland PD had perished along with Naifeh. He was not going to be taken alive. The Wi-Fi timer was found in the burnt-out wreckage of the cab of the truck. In all 2500 pounds of Pentaerythritol tetranitrate was detonated killing everyone within a quarter mile radius. The Florida Highway Patrol Troopers survived, barely, but were badly injured. The only reason is that they were not killed because of the blast was that they were still far enough away from it, but still in a position to stop the truck if he tried to escape into Florida. I-95 southbound is still closed to this day needing heavy repairs to fill the crater left behind.

Xx

They had been interrogating Aashif Kazim for two weeks solid now. He was not saying anything. Next, they would resort to no sleep and no food to get him to talk. They knew that there were trucks that had made it out of the yard in Brooklyn and distributed the HP printers to the general public. That much they figured out. What they didn't know is where they went to after they were delivered to their intended targets. There was no way to track them without paperwork. The reps at the Best Buy warehouse had said that the shipments were never entered into their inventory system and the warehouse managers simply called the companies that had ordered the printers telling them that they were ready for pick up. All were gone by the time the NYPD arrived at the warehouse.

Xx

Rick sits in his office and tries to think about his next move. He is at a loss and he needed help.

 _"Lieutenant Smith, please report to the Captain's office."_ Rick announces over the loudspeaker then hangs up the receiver back in the cradle.

Less than two minutes later Smitty is sitting across from Rick. He knows that this case has had him on edge because the unit itself is under immense examination. The city wanted results and because of that, the brass had put BDU under a microscope. The amount of money they had allocated for their upgrades was staggering and they wanted results.

"Paul, we need to find something. There has to be a trail to follow. Something that we can make sense of. I know that these people don't always follow a laid-out plan, well not after being caught red-handed that is they usually travel on a different path. But to me, something is off. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"Rick, I'm not one to turn away any kind of help, but we should really get Kang in here with us. He has found a lot of the clues that have brought us to where we are now. If it wasn't for him we'd still be at square one."

"Paul, tell me honestly, what do you think about him?" Rick asked his second in command.

"Honestly Rick? I think the guy has seen the worst that the world can offer. Sure, he needs to blow off some steam, and vent possibly every now and then, but he's a lot like you. I'm not trying to compare him to you he still has a far way to go to get there, but he is methodical in the way he thinks. He dissects every situation down to the smallest clue. Why do you ask?"

"I was given the option to have him assigned here from 1PP permanently. The call came in yesterday and I'm not sure how I feel about this."

"Rick this is a no-brainer. Grab him! We'll work out your indifferences later."

"Paul, we're past that. We have an understanding between us."

"Do you? You might not see it but we do. The man is doing all he can do to make sure that he does everything correctly in your eyes. Rick, he goes over his reports four or five times _before_ he submits them to you. And I think it all comes back to the very first meeting you had with him. Give the guy a shot will ya?"

"Okay. Get him in here, and Dave too. I need to speak to him as well."

Smitty leaves in search of his coworkers. He hopes that Kang is assigned to the unit for good. He would round out their unit adequately.

Xx

"Baby, I want to know about something." Kate asked her daughter.

Alexis knew an ambush when she heard one. She knew her mother better than she knew herself, but she'd relent this one time.

"What is it that you want to know?"

"How are things with you and Kyle?"

"Mom! Come on. What we have or don't have is personal to me, to us."

"Okay, so there is something there after all huh?"

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response. At all!"

Her daughter didn't need to say anything. Kate saw it written all over her face. When she cared about someone or something important to her, her face became a little softer and more relaxed. This is how she was looking now. Which led her to her next question, one that might embarrass her.

"So I am to assume that the two of you are being safe?"

Alexis looked up at her mother in shock, and the softness that was there had now disappeared.

"Mother!?" she was flummoxed.

"Yes, that's me. But you still have not acknowledged nor denied my question."

God this was so embarrassing. But her mother is not wrong, but how did she know? They had been sexually active and yes, they were safe in that regard. Since her dad was working late she had the loft all to herself. She had invited Kyle over for dinner one night. Once dinner was finished she did not want the night to end so she suggested a movie and he agreed. One thing led to another and the next thing she remembered was waking up next to him in her bed. But it was the way he woke her up that still brings back memories of her being fully satisfied. And then again in the shower, that was very interesting, to say the least.

Kate knew her daughter all too well. She already knew that she liked the man and she also knew that they had sex at the loft. Rick had come home late the night they were together and needed to be out early in the morning. He knew Alexis had a class early that day and was curious as to why the shower had been running for almost a half hour. When he stepped up to the bathroom door he heard the distinct noises of someone being in the throes of passion. He had quickly moved away from the door, pushing those sounds out of his mind and collected his gear for the day and left. He did not want to even think about his daughter having sex. He had told Kate when he went to the hospital that morning and asked what they should do about it. Her only response was that she was an adult and that she could make her own decisions as long as they were being safe. They should not tell her how to live her life.

"Alexis? I'm still waiting." Kate prompted.

"Mom, I'm sorry."

"Honey, why would you be sorry?"

"I was needing somebody. So, I invited Kyle over for dinner. Then things between us got heated. And before I knew it we slept together."

"Listen to me Alexis, you're both consenting adults. There is no need to apologize for following your heart. As long as you see that's where this is going. And even if it isn't I know that you're lonely and you're trying to find the right man to be with. This is normal. How else are you going to find out if you're compatible with someone if you don't test every aspect of your relationship."

Kate wouldn't outright promote sex between her daughter and any man. Alexis needs to make a choice and she needed the right information in order to make that choice.

"But mom, I had sex in the loft, our home."

"What, do you feel guilty?"

"Well yeah, I do."

"Don't feel this way." Kate looked down at her very large belly.

"Baby, look at me. How do you think I became this way? I would prefer you to make love in your own home. So, put the guilt right out of your head okay?"

"Sure mom and thanks for understanding. But can we talk?"

"Sure what's on your mind?"

"I know that you are slowly going crazy but what if we ask Suzanne if you can take a short walk to break up being stuck in the bed?"

"We can. Anything else?"

"Are you worried about the baby? I mean what if something happens to him?"

"Alexis, there are more than enough people here to be able to help me and your brother. Please don't worry."

"But I do mom. I don't want to lose you or him."

"You'll never lose me, ever. Do you want to know why?" Alexis nods.

"I'll always be here." Kate presses the palm of her hand to Alexis' heart.

Xx

Smitty and Loto along with Dave return back to Rick's office. After sitting at the conference table Rick starts to outline his next move.

"Smitty, the Wi-Fi trigger that was used in Georgia was it specific to the printers that it detonated? What I mean is was the Wi-Fi signal specific to one printer or all of them?"

"Rick if I may?" Loto asks and Rick nods his head in assent.

"We are thinking that the Wi-Fi detonator works both ways. It could trigger an individual device or it could activate many at one time. The truckload of printers in Georgia seems to be proof of that. What we don't know is how they can separate one from many."

"Loto, see what you can find out from the detectives who are interrogating this suspect. See if he'll give up anything about the way these printers are activated."

"On it boss."

Loto leaves and hopes to find out what he can for Rick.

"Smitty, I need you to go over what we have on the shipments that were already delivered. There has to be some way we can track these printers. Serial numbers, bills of lading, anything that we can find to see where they might be."

Smitty leaves to find out what he can.

"What do you want me to do Rick?" Dave asks.

"Dave we are going to the training room…"


	18. Chapter 18

Dave tapped out once again. He'd been thrown to the mat several times and hated it each time it had happened.

"David, you need to keep your guard up. There is always a chance that the person who wants to kill you will look for any opportunity to take advantage of you." Rick said as he helped Dave back up from the mat.

They had put the new gym to good use. There was much that they could do here to keep their strength up and be able to handle any threat. Dave was more of a geek when it came to physical defense. He could outsmart a bomb but outsmart a suspect, not so much.

"All right that's enough for now. Hit the showers and meet me back in my office when you're done."

"Okay, Rick."

Dave trudges off to the showers wondering what his boss wants to do with him next. He knows that they are required to be evaluated annually, but he hopes that this was not part of his assessment.

He really should not have been so hard on Dave. He knows that there will be numerous bruises on the man's midsection from the takedowns. He needed to get a handle on this and as Rick thinks back to his training/evaluation, he will do fine. He gets to his office and sees Paul and Loto sitting there waiting for him.

"So guys what did you find?"

Smitty talks first.

"Rick, I found out that HP had lost many shipments of the laser printers that we're hunting down. They were intercepted. Since HP had a contract with Best Buy the printers took a short detour in transit. HP thought that Best Buy had them in their possession, and Best Buy thought that HP had not shipped them yet. All in all, there was a three day lapse of possession."

"And I guess that the criminal element are the ones responsible for the delay in receiving the printers?

"You'd be right." Smitty sadly acknowledges.

"Loto, what did you find out?"

"What I found out is not going to be something that you'll want to hear."

"Dazzle me then!"

"The printers are able to be detonated by a separate frequency. It can be sent out by a blue tooth connection, but that option is far limited to where the device is and where the person who detonates the bomb is located. The other option is that these printers have all been assigned an independent cellular band commonly referred to as 1900 and it uses the frequencies between 1850-1990. The other band is PCS frequency which in the 800 MHz band and uses frequencies in the 824-894 range. My bet is that the people who have altered these printers have the numbers assigned to each printer that they put into play. There is also a master frequency that will detonate every printer at the same time. Let's just say that this group has a hard-on for JPMorgan Asset Management with the printers in place they could strike at the whole firm or poor old Mr. Jones individually. They have the ability to pick and choose who they want to take out. I'm sure that they have men who have delivered the printers to these companies and recorded each and every location of each printer."

"Loto, you know that I was kidding when I told you to dazzle me."

"So Rick what's the plan?" Smitty asks.

"We need everyone in on this, all hands. Loto get the team together and we'll meet you in the conference room in five."

Loto leaves to get the men to the meeting room.

"Rick, is there something you want to tell me?" Paul asks.

"Yeah, there is. I took your advice. Lieutenant Loto Kang is now officially a member of NYPD BDU."

"Well, it's about time that you got your head out of your ass! When are you going to tell him?"

"Paul, I need to be sure that he can handle what we face on a tough day. He is very smart, so smart that I think that it'll get him jammed up."

"Rick that's what you are here for. Guide him, show him that we as a unit take care of each other. The man has a past and that past will come back and bite him in the ass at the worst possible moment. Just be there for him and if I'm right he will fit in perfectly.

"I'd figure that I'd tell him now in the meeting."

"Good idea."

Just as they were about to get up and leave Rick's landline rang. Smitty sat back down and waited until he picked up the phone.

"BDU, Captain Rodgers speaking."

"Captain Rodgers this dispatch. There was an event down in the financial district. You and your team need to respond post haste to One World Trade Center. Beijing Vantone Industrial reported many detonations on the 64th through 69th floors."

"Copy." Shit what else could go wrong?

Rick sees Smitty look and before he can question him Rick is up and heading towards the conference room. Rick and Smitty hear the guys laughing at a joke someone just told. He hates to break this up but they need to go to work.

"Hey, Boss. The guys all say in unison.

Rick looks at Juan, Dave, Herman, Kang, and Smitty who just took a seat next to Herman.

"Guys we have a situation at One Trade Center. A series of explosions have been reported between the 64th and 69th floors. Smitty, you will sit this one out, Loto and Dave you are next up. I need the both of you to be extremely careful when you get to the scene. Keep me in the loop. Loto a word first?"

"Sure Rick, where?"

"My office."

As they both walk to his office Rick prepares how to tell Loto that he' a part of BDU now. When they reach his office he says to Loto,

"Lieutenant please have a seat."

"What's wrong Rick? Have I not been pulling my own weight around here? I am sending everything I find directly to you."

"Woah, slow down for a second here. Listen Loto I am very grateful to have your help, I really am. What you've done in the last couple of weeks is beyond stellar. You seem to work well with the guys here and I'd like to know if you'd like to make this gig a permanent assignment?"

Loto looks at his future boss and he feels like an asshole. He'd never expected to be asked to stay here in a permanent slot. The guys and Rick are people he could get used to being around. Maybe one day they would talk about what happened in Hawaii. But right now, he was assigned a job and he'll do just that.

"Rick, can I give you an answer after the positive outcome of this case?"

"Feeling a little cocky, are we?"

"Yeah, something like that…."

Xx

"Baby, can you get me the sudoku book from the counter by the flowers?"

"Okay, mom. So, how are you feeling?"

"Alexis if you ask me that once more, I swear I'll throttle you where you stand!"

"Mom I never…"

"Keep it up and you'll see how 'never' I can be!"

"Mom, I'm sorry. I should have been a little more considerate to your present condition."

"Come here."

Alexis moves towards the one person she trusts most in her life.

"Closer…. Closer still…." Kate repeats.

Kate takes her daughter into a hug and lets the tension drain from her frame. The sudoku book falls onto the bed. She has been under a lot of stress lately with her choice of what she wants to be in life. Then there's Kyle to top it off. It's tough being a smart young woman.

"Hey, I have an original thought, why don't you go back to the loft? You have been here since I was admitted two and a half weeks ago. I really don't know how you are able to study, see Kyle, and sleep with all of this going on. Baby, I know that you think that you need to be here, but honestly, you need some time to yourself."

"Mom, I can't leave here."

"And why is that?

"Because I am the one that's to blame here."

"Stop right there! Look at me." Kate took her daughters face in the palms of her hands. "There is no way that you are responsible for any of this. Do. You. Hear. Me?"

"I do hear you. But mom I was the one who caused this to happen."

"How so?"

"I was the one who made you go shopping when I knew that you didn't want to go in the first place. Then I made you confront dad with the baby. Remember?"

"Is this what you think? You really think that you forced me to go shopping? Let me let you in on a little secret. I wanted to go with you. We never have any time to ourselves. So, no you did not cause this. As for your dad, it worked itself out he loves the idea that we will be expanding our family and you should too."

"Are you sure that I should go home?"

"Baby you need some solid sleep in your own bed. Please go home I'll be fine. The amount of medical personnel here to take care of me will be fine."

"Well okay. Do you need anything from the loft?"

"No, I'm pretty much set. Call me when you get home so I know that you made it there safely."

"I will mom."

Xx

Alexis places her key into the lock of the front door. She hasn't been back at the loft since her dinner and the great sex with Kyle weeks ago. When she enters the loft, the smell is stagnated it's been a while since she had been here. Her dad was practically living at the BDU and Kate was in the hospital. She opts for a warm shower first. When she emerges from the bathroom something feels off. She knows that she made a careful sweep of the loft how her dad had taught her, but maybe it was her only her imagination. So, she wraps the soft towel around her body and heads to her room to change into something more comfortable. It's faint but she hears it. She leaves her room and heads to her dad's study. The beeping becomes louder and then it stops. Thinking that the noise has stopped for good she moves back out to the open area of the loft. Mail! She forgot to pick up the mail from the box in the lobby. She gets up and starts for the door to get the mail. Then she hears that annoying beeping again. Deciding that it's one of her dad's alarms, she continues to the door. She is just about to turn the handle for the front door when she feels the immense heat surrounding her then her body is thrown against the closed door and she loses all cognitive thought as her world turns black in an instant….


	19. Chapter 19

Juan was at ground level coordinating the NYPD regulars there. Smitty, Rick, and Herman were climbing the south stairway between the 63rd and 64th floors. Loto and Dave were already on the 64th floor after using the elevator in the firefighter mode. The sound of his radio echoes in the stairwell.

"Captain Rogers from dispatch."

Rick grabs the Mike attached to his shoulder and answers the call.

"This is Captain Rogers dispatch, go."

"Captain, contact this unit immediately via landline."

Since they were at the top of the second set of stairs leading to the 64th floor decided to wait until they were actually on the floor before he made his call.

Moving through the doorway Rick tells Smitty and Herman just to start processing the scene. What he sees in front of him is a lot of structural damage. Papers strewn everywhere, office desks overturned, and small fires still burn, but not a threat.

The only thing he could think of is something happened to Kate at the hospital. Never would dispatch request a phone call. So, whatever this is it's personal in nature. He pulls out his cell phone and dials Central Dispatch.

"This is Captain Rogers I was told to call via landline."

"Captain Rogers we have a slight issue. We have an unconfirmed report of a detonation near 595 Broome Street."

The phone almost falls out of his hand. He knows that it's their house, the house they spent so much time trying to find to fit their personal needs. He's glad that it's empty because he knows Kate is in the hospital, and Alexis is with her.

"Captain, we have a report of a possible fatality at the residence. We can't confirm this yet because we just got the call literally two minutes ago."

Rick's mind is going into overdrive now someone was hurt at his loft. The next-door neighbor Mr. O'Keefe maybe, a delivery person dropping off food for someone there? He doesn't know who could be hurt, but he does know he needs to get over there and find out what's going on.

Xx

She startles awake and instantly feels a weight on top of her. She does a quick mental evaluation of her body and everything seems to be working okay, her legs move, her arms move, her neck moves but there's a slight pain in her abdomen and her forehead. Her forehead she can tell is more painful than her abdomen. At first, she thinks it's tears that are collecting in her right eye socket. She works her hand up to the fluid and realizes that it's thicker than tears. It's probably blood. Then she moves her hand a little higher on her forehead and finds a small laceration so that answers the question about the pain. She listens and hears someone yelling from where the elevator is, she thinks she does but can't be sure because her ears are still ringing. She just can't yell back because whatever is on top of her is stopping her from taking in that much air. And the air she is able to take in is contaminated with smoke and it's hard to breathe.

"Alexis is that you under there?"

"Mr. O'Keefe is that you?"

"It is lass. Are you okay?"

"I'm having trouble breathing."

"That's because there are two doors on top of you."

Right. She remembers now. The heat she felt as she just got her hand on the door handle and just before the blast she was able to open and close the loft's entry door and get on the other side. Then all she remembers everything going black.

"Mr. O'Keefe, do you see anything that you could use to pry the doors off me?"

"Let me look around lass. I'll see if there is anything in the ruins."

"Be careful!" Alexis stresses.

She hears his steady footsteps walking into the loft. She has no idea of how bad it is due to the door keeping her immobile on the floor. She can only imagine what carnage she'll face when she gets free. Still, she thinks about what caused this. There was no smell of natural gas or any other accelerant.

"Alexis, I haven't found anything that I could use to free you."

A little defeated she tells him,

"That's okay. I'll wait for the fire department to get here. Could you call my dad for me?"

"Oh no! We'll have none of that!"

What she hears next is a lot of grunting and swearing. Then without warning, it gets a lot brighter and she can breathe a little bit easier. She tilts her head upwards almost painfully and sees Mr. O'Keefe lifting the doors up off of her.

"Come on lass, move on out of there while I still have the strength in me arms!"

She doesn't need to be told twice. She claws her way out from under the doors that are just about four inches above her and just as she gets free both doors slam back down onto the hallway carpet.

"Mr. O'Keefe are you okay?"

"I am at that lass! I might be 72 years old but I still workout at the gym every once in awhile. I'm glad you're okay Alexis. But I really think that you need to take care of that cut on your forehead, it looks bad."

Just as Mr. O'Keefe finished his statement the FDNY came out if the elevator and ran towards them.

"Miss, are you hurt anywhere else?" One firefighter asked when he saw the blood on her face.

"No, I'm not. I felt something on my side, but I think it was the door handle pressing into me. It feels better now."

"Okay miss. I am going to need you to sit down. Can you tell me if there was anyone else in that apartment?"

"No, I was alone."

Throughout the whole process of Alexis being looked over, he never left her side. She was so appreciative of Mr. O'Keefe being there for her and later she'd do something nice for him to show how glad she was that he stayed, maybe a dozen cupcakes would do the trick.

Xx

"You don't understand I am Captain Rick Rodgers." Rick just about spelled out the word Captain to the rookie cop standing guard in front of the entrance to his loft. "That up there," he said as he pointed to the blown out windows of his apartment "Is my loft! I live there and if you don't let me go up there we're going to have a serious problem."

The rookie looked like he was going to let him go up, but then his Sergeant came over to him.

"What seems to be the problem here patrolman?" The sergeant asked.

"This man claims to be Captain Rodgers, says he lived in the loft that blew up and he wants access to the crime scene."

"I'll handle this." The patrolman steps back but stays close enough to listen in.

"So Captain Rodgers do you have any ID?" The sergeant asked.

"Look, I've already been through this with the patrolman here. I need to see my loft right now. Dispatch told me there could be a fatality and I want to make sure that there is no one hurt up there."

"Captain of the bomb squad huh?" The sergeant comments as he hands Rick back his ID.

"Yes based out of the old 1st precinct."

"Captain I can assure you that there are no fatalities. No one was hurt. But I can't have you traipsing around up there while the FDNY secures the scene."

"Sergeant I am a Captain with the bomb squad. Don't you think that I'd be a better choice to secure the scene than the FDNY? A bomb did detonate up there after all."

"Alright Captain. But be careful up there." Rick never heard the completion of his sentence as he ran through the lobby and up four flights of stairs. Reaching the top, he sees his next-door neighbor Mr. O'Keefe standing by a firefighter.

"Mr. O'Keefe, what's going on?"

As Rick moved closer to the destruction that was once their loft, he sees Alexis sitting down on what seems to be a wall support beam that looks like it was part of the door frame at one time.

"Alexis are you okay what happened?"

"Dad, it's really weird. I came home to take a shower and change my clothes and go back to Mom. But all the time I was here I kept hearing this beeping. It was faint at times and right before I made it to the door it was really loud. So loud, that I almost went back to your office to see what it was."

"Where were you going anyway were you headed back to the hospital?"

"No, actually I was heading downstairs to get the mail from Eduardo. I just made it to the front door when I felt the heat above me. I quickly open the door and closed it and next thing I remember is that it was hard to breathe and it was very dark around me."

"Honey, let the firefighters and EMTs look at your cut above your head because from here on out you're not leaving my side when they're done."

"Dad, you have work to do here and I have got to get back to Mom. I need to be with her."

Xx

 _"Code blue, Code blue. Dr. Mitchell, please report to room 3107."_ The announcement crackles over the PA system.

Suzanne who was in the maternity ward talking with a patient hears the page, excuses herself and takes off running. She knows exactly whose room this is she dodges a couple of orderlies rolling a patient down the hall and makes it to Kate's room where she sees Kate lying on her bed, unresponsive.

"Status now!" Suzanne demanded.

"Dr. Mitchell, my intern came in her room to do a quick stat check and found her unconscious. Her blood pressure was 178 over 92. But her chart says she has no history of high blood pressure."

"Alright here's what we need to do. Draw a type and screen and notify the blood bank to have her blood on standby, start her on IV antibiotics, and get her prepped for a cesarean section because this baby is coming now we don't have time to waste. This is a matter of life and death if we don't get this baby delivered, she, or both might die."

Sensing the urgency in the situation Suzanne, and the two interns administer the medications that Kate will need to bring her blood pressure down. At the same time, Suzanne is getting her ready to head down to the operating room to perform the C-section on her patient.

Xx

Smitty and Kang are the first to put it together. They had already figured out that each printer can be separately detonated or every device can be detonated at the same time. But they finally were able to find out that Best Buy had shipped a majority of the printers to three separate buildings other than the World Trade Center. It would take a lot of time to figure where they went since they had to wait for the original manifest but they had an idea to stop the signal from getting to the printers, it will require a lot of understanding with the building's tenants but they think they have a plan to stop any future detonations. They were at the second office building.

"Sir, what I propose is that we wait until after normal working hours. But we might risk the possibility of a mass detonation if we wait." Smitty said to the building's manager.

"What my partner here is asking you, is that you disabled the cellular network for the entire building. This way we will circumvent any signal from coming in and detonating the bombs." Kang added.

"Do you know what that will take? How many people will be pissed off that they can't get to use their cellular devices? And it's not just that simple. I'm guessing that you don't know that it would take an act of Congress to suspend service. They won't like it."

"I don't really want to be the grim reaper here, but don't you think that these people would want to live? I'm guessing that the loss of cellular service will be a small inconvenience for them staying alive!" Smitty stresses.

"Well if you put it that way….

"All we need is to shut down the network, remove the printers that were delivered, and then when we're finished you can reactivate the network back to normal service." Kang tells him.

Xx

"Alexis, now that you are all cleared medically, you are coming with me back to the hospital." Rick nods his thanks to the EMT who helped his daughter.

"Dad, won't you have to stay here and investigate what happened to our home?"

"Pumpkin, the fact that you are safe and sound is enough for me. I'll have either Herman or Juan come here and look into this. Right now, I am going to get you back to your mother."

They carefully step around all the debris that's in the hallway, bid a goodbye to Mr. O'Keefe and head for the elevator. Some of the FDNY firefighters follow them but two of them stay behind to extinguish any hot spots that might flare up.

Rick and Alexis make it to the hospital and park his truck. That's a start walking down the hallway towards the elevator banks he quickly looks to his left and sees something that catches his eye in the gift shop. He grabbed his daughter's arm and stops her from moving forward pulling her into the gift shop with him. Alexis is curious at first wondering why her father would pull her in here.

"Dad what are we doing here we need to get upstairs."

"Listen pumpkin everybody needs some cheering up now and then so when I saw this little teddy bear holding a little baby bear I thought of your mother."

"Well okay if that's what you really want to get for her I think it would make her happy."

Rick picks up the teddy bear and heads to the cashier to pay. They walk out of the gift shop having paid for their purchase and head towards the elevators. When they arrive on the floor where Kate is it's plain and normal. They see no signs of anything out of the ordinary. But then they don't see Suzanne anywhere around. Alexis tugs her father's jacket pulling him towards Kate's room. The curtain is drawn around her area and as they both walked in they see that she is not there. Alexis, becoming alarmed quickly turns and runs out to the nurse's station.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where my mother is?"

"Miss Rogers, I'm afraid that you're going to have to see her doctor and right now but she is not available."

"Why, what happened?"

"I really shouldn't be doing this…"

But as Rick walked up he gave a demanding look to the nurse and she started to tell them what had happened less than 10 minutes ago.

"Your mother had a problem with high blood pressure when one of our interns went to check on her. Her doctor decided that due to her being unresponsive it was wise to deliver the baby before either one could be lost. I'm sure that Dr. Mitchell will be out after the procedure is done to talk to you."

Rick loses his grip and lets the little bears falls to the floor…

Xx

Suzanne is speaking to the anesthesiologist making sure that Kate is ready to be operated on.

He tells her she's ready with a nod.

Turning to the nurse she asks for a 22-blade scalpel. With scalpel in hand, she nods to the attending physician and starts the incision across Kate abdomen. The scalpel in her hand makes quick work of Kate's flesh. The abdominal muscles are cut and Susan notices that the baby will not fit through the horizontal incision because his head is too large. So, she makes a vertical one as well. Once she gets past the abdominal wall she makes an incision through the amniotic sac.

"Nurse Allen I need you to get a pair of forceps ready. When you get them, I will place them around the baby's head and then we'll deliver this child.

Nurse Allen gets the forceps and Suzanne places the end of one very gently around the back of the baby's head. And then in less than 10 seconds, he's here. The nurse takes the suction bulb and cleans out his lungs and nose and all she hears now is this little baby crying for his mother.

 **A/N: Epilogue to follow.**

 **A/N 2: My wife has been a Mother Baby nurse for the last 35 years. Now I research most of the medical procedures with either Google or Wikipedia. When I asked her thoughts on the scene where Kate blacked out from the high blood pressure, and the C-section she basically ripped me a new butthole because everything I wrote was so wrong. So all the scenes that you read with the medical procedures were written by her, and I could not be more proud of her for doing this for me!**


	20. Chapter 20

In the dull light of the room, Suzanne is drawn away from the chart that she is reading by the quiet weeps from her second patient. Well, not exactly her second patient, but one that she cares a lot about since he has his own physician. Alexender James Rodgers opens his eyes and wiggles around in the swaddling that encases him, searching for nourishment.

She looks over at the woman who brought this child into the world and sees that she is still sleeping soundly. The last four hours have been very exhausting for both of them. Her son came into this world at 3:22 pm. He weighed six pounds ten ounces, is nineteen and a half inches long, and has a full head of beautiful brown hair. His eyes take after his mothers with small traces of gold placed around his irises.

Suzanne is startled by another quiet voice, that of his big sister.

"How is he? Alexis asked.

"He's doing just fine Alexis." Suzanne answers in a whisper.

"Mom let me hold him for a little before she fell asleep earlier. So, there is no problem with his lungs? I mean are they are okay?"

"Yes, they are developed perfectly. The additional time that your mother was on bed rest gave us the additional time he needed to fully develop them with no complications."

All Alexis could do was smile in return. She was worried that he'd need to be in NICU for a while after he was born, but that turned out not to be the case and for that she is happy.

The sheets rustle next to her and Alexis looks to see her mother looking up at her.

"Hi, sweetie." Kate extends her hand to take her daughter's hand in hers.

"Hey, mom. How do you feel?"

"Baby, I feel great! Nothing could stop how happy I am feeling right now." Kate says as she looks at the isolette parked next to her bedside.

"Not even dad?"

Before Kate can offer a rebuttal Rick chimes in.

"Hey, I'm not that bad! Come on now, I can't have the both of you ganging up on me."

Kate looks at her husband with a loving look and says,

"Babe, look at it this way… you now have another man around, sorta evens up the score two against two."

"Wow, you're right! I never really thought of it that way."

"Kate I really hate to interrupt your family time now, but there is a little man here who's very hungry." Suzanne tells her.

"Suzanne, can you give him to me? And I need some help because I've never done this before."

"No problem Kate. First, remove the flap for your nursing bra."

"Suzanne I'm not wearing a bra." Kate returns shyly.

"All the better. I'm going to take Alex and remove his onesie and he'll be only in his diaper. Studies have shown that skin to skin contact is better for your son, it maintains his temperature and with his clothes off he'll stay alert more to feed.

Suzanne undresses Alex and gives Kate her son and she can tell that Kate will need a lactation specialist to come in and help her with nursing her son.

Alex is fussing a little and before she wants Kate to feel too overwhelmed she tells Kate to get more comfortable on the bed.

"Kate, reposition yourself on the bed, get a little more comfortable for both you and him."

Kate sits up on the bed and gets into a more comfortable position to feed her son.

Suzanne tells her that there are two positions that are good to feed her baby in. The cradle position and the football hold.

"Kate there are two ways to hold your baby when you feed him. The first position is where you place your arm between his legs and hold his head near your breast and with your other hand you position your breast to get him to eat, and the second is to hold him like a football and maneuver his head to your breast in the same fashion."

"I'd like to try the cradle position."

"Okay, take him and get into a comfortable spot."

Suzanne gives Kate Alex and they seem to be okay, at least she is not afraid.

Alex has ideas of his own. He is quick to latch onto Kates' breast and soon he is eating well.

Rick looks on in awe. What he is seeing in front of him is something that is so beautiful and natural.

"Kate when you take him away from his feeding, there will be a tan or brown liquid coming out of your breast. This is colostrum and it's normal. In it are everything your son needs to protect his immune system. It has antibodies and nutrition in it after about the fourth day it will look more like milk." Suzanne tells her.

Just then Rick's phone rings and he steps out to answer it.

"Rodgers." He said.

"Boss, it's Smitty. We have news about the printer bombs that we've found."

"Where are you, Paul?"

"Myself and Lieutenant Kang are down in the disposal yard."

"Is there something I need to be worried about?"

"Not necessarily, but we have something to show you before we detonate this ordinance."

"Okay, I'll be there is about an hour. You're over in the Bronx, right?"

"Yeah. I'll see you when you get here."

Rick ends the call and heads back into Kate's room. She has switched Alex from her left to right breast and he is eating well.

"Dad, you missed it!" His daughter just about shouted and giggled at the same time.

"I did? What did I miss?"

"When mom pulled away Alex to burp him, he let out a very loud one and spit up a little all over mom."

"Well he is a baby, things like this will happen."

"But dad it's a first! He did it here."

"Pumpkin there will be many firsts. Just like there was with you."

Rick really hated to leave this room. But he needed to see that the C-4 was destroyed and he would see that this explosive would harm no one else. As he got into his truck, he took stock in what he had in his life up to this point. He had a loving wife, two children that he would do anything for, and a job that he'd never tire of doing.

"So there he is! Paul shouted out.

"There who is? Rick said as he walked up to Smitty.

"The new father that's who. How does it feel?"

"It's everything I could ever imagine and so much more!" Rick answered honestly.

"How is Kate, Rick?"

"She's a little sore, but I think that she is happy. She wants out of the hospital, and I can't blame her. She's been there for the last couple of weeks and she's tired of the place."

"Soon boss, soon. We're ready to detonate the contraband C-4."

"Okay. How deep is it? And how many charges did you use for the detonation?"

"It's buried just shy of forty feet in the sand surrounded by a ten by ten steel reinforced concrete box and myself and Kang placed six shaped charges to blow in sequence. It should take all of eight seconds." Smitty told him.

"Alright sound the blast warning and get everyone to the bunker we'll do this in five."

Everyone was in the bunker and Rick had his hand on the toggle switch for the controlled detonation. He looked at everyone and each man nodded that they were ready. When he saw Smitty nod, he flipped the toggle switch. The explosion was loud and the sand rose up about ten feet when the explosion happened, but it was nothing that they didn't expect.

"Rick, CSU has finished their report about the origin of the C-4 that was used in these bombs." Paul told him.

"And? What did they find?"

"This won't be easy for you to hear, but they traced this specific C-4 to three separate U.S. Army ammunition depots, that means that there is someone working with these terrorists. Someone who is a traitor."

"Paul, what can we do? All I know is that I don't want to go through something like that again…ever! We can give that report to the upper brass and let them handle it from there. I hate it but our hands are tied. Sure, I'd love to go balls to the wall and take out every one of those sons of bitches, make our world safer, but you and I we are what happens _after_ the destruction has happened. Very rarely do we get to a scene before a bomb detonates."

Paul lowered his head in defeat. He knew Rick was right…

Xx

 _One year later…_

"Happy Birthday dear Alex, happy birthday to you!"

Rick, Kate, Alexis and all of their friends just finished singing to Alex at his first birthday party.

"It amazes me how big he has grown Katie." Her father said.

"Dad it amazes me too. He's already starting to pull himself up with the furniture to try and walk."

"He'll get there. If I remember correctly you did the same thing. But you started walking when you were about 10 months old."

"So are you and Ricky happy with the verdict?"

"Actually, we are. Rick put a lot of work into that case. There was a lot of testimony, a lot of photographic evidence and the fact that they caught him red-handed helped a lot."

"Hey are the two of you talking about me behind my back?" Rick asked as he walked up to his wife and father-in-law.

Jim just raised his hands in surrender. Kate decided to have a little fun with him.

"So what if we were? What are you going to do about it?"

"Oh, I guess I could see if you are actually ticklish, right?" Rick started to move towards Kate in a creeping kind of way with his hands out in front of him imitating lobster pinchers.

"Don't you dare mister! Kate started to run to her safe haven, her daughter, and son she'd use both of them to protect herself from him if need be. By the time she got to where Alex was with his sister she hid behind them. When Rick came across the room a little too quick, Alex looked a little scared that his father was going to attack his mother and doing the only thing he could do by still sitting in his high chair he shouted "NO HURT MAMA"

Everything in the entire room came to a sudden stop. Everyone looked at Alex and could see the tears that were starting to form in his eyes thinking that Rick would hurt his mother.

"Oh Baby, no don't worry! Daddy was only playing around. He won't hurt me, ever." Kate tried to comfort her son and she picked him up out of the high chair. Soon with her comfort he was calm and babbling at everything he saw. Crisis averted.

After Alex had finally came down off his sugar high from eating only the icing on his cake and was sleeping, everyone had left with the exception of her father and Smitty. They all sat down in the living room to talk for a while.

"This is outstanding Rick!" Jim commented.

"Yes, it is. They did a great job. And I have this man to thank for all of it." Rick said pointing to Smitty.

"Rick it was nothing at all." Smitty quietly said.

"It was Paul, it was everything. Without the people you knew, we'd still be living with Jim. There was no way that anyone else could have done the repairs to the loft in the amount of time that they did it in. And they made it so much better!" Rick said.

"Amen to that!" Kate commented remembering how cramped it was living with her dad but grateful that he could put them up.

"Paul the loft has three additional rooms now, plus an upgraded kitchen. A den for Rick and Kate, a bedroom for Alex, a totally remodeled bedroom for Alexis, and a larger living room." Jim said.

Paul looked around and he really _was_ amazed by what his brother had done with the space. The loft had been totally gutted and rebuilt. The bomb that tore through the loft had decimated everything. The city had wanted to condemn the whole building but after his brother had shown them that the building was only damaged on the top floor and the rest of the building was safe, the city inspector had relented. He didn't want to put out five other families out in the cold when there was no need to do so.

Xx

It had taken less than four months of hard work and running down leads with Kate's help and the help of her team who had been assigned to Rick's BDU team, but in the end, the verdict the jury had decided on for the fate of Aashif Kazim had been justified. He would spend the rest of his natural life in an eight by eight prison cell. He has been charged with terroristic acts against the United States. Mainly Title VI of the Patriot Act: Victims and families of victims of terrorism, and War and National Defense Title 50 of the U.S.C. chapter 36 section 1801. During his trial, he had kept silent until his attorney had told him that it looked like he would be going away for a long time. He thought about his current plight and had an idea. He talked with his attorney about giving up other cells of terrorists that operated within the borders of the U.S.

The government who was interested in the information he was offering, told him that they would gladly take his information, but no deal was to be made. It was up to him on how he wanted to proceed so knowing that he was beaten, he gave up over 125 additional suspects. The government having this information decided that taking these people down quickly would be ideal. Between the DOJ, NYPD, State and local Police in various states, three days after they were given the information they raided every address they had. This turned up ninety-two terrorists most of whom were on the terrorist watch list. The government would be busy for quite some time.

"It does look really great, they did an excellent job." Alexis said as she walked into the living room drawing Rick from his thoughts about the verdict. All said and done he was happy with the outcome.

"Alexis, how is Kyle doing?" Kate asked wanting to know how their relationship was going.

"He's okay. He was promoted to store manager last week."

"So this is going somewhere then?" Kate had hoped.

"I think it is. Mom, I really, really like him."

"Honey, are you happy?"

"I am. I feel like I don't deserve him. But time after time he always says something that makes me feel special and then I fall in love with him all over again."

Kate knew that she had found the person whom she wanted to share everything with. Maybe there would be wedding bells in their future….

 **⁓Fin⁓**

A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who has favorited/followed this fic. At first, I really didn't think that there was enough of the first story to write a follow-up. But as you can see there was and I think it came out all right.

P2P


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